The Gazette 1991

g a z e t t e

a p r i l 1991

take on a fairly substantial undertaking in a book of modest proportions. When one subtracts the space devoted to the text of the Conventions Protocol appendices etc., the amount of space left over for exposition, commentary and analysis is necessarily small. As far as the Convention itself is concerned, (and by this is meant the 1968 Convention as amended) many of its key concepts are left undefined and therefore a con- siderable body of interpretive jurisprudence has been developed by the European Court. In the leading Case of Tessi/i -v- Dunlop (1976) wh i ch was the first interpretive reference to the European Court of Justice under the 1971 Protocol, the Court laid down the basic principle of interpretation, that the Convention was to be interpreted having regard both to its principles and objectives and to its relationship with the E.E.C. Treaty. The Book itself contains no footnotes as to further reading, articles etc. The bibliography is thin. It does not refer to that excellent book, Kaye: Civil Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Foreign Judgements (1987), the series of articles on the Convention by Gill or indeed to the two excellent publi- cations produced by the Irish Centre for European Law, one of which deals entirely with the Convention. However, the principal and recurrent problem with this book is the sparsity, or indeed complete absence in many cases, of an explanatory introduction, following not only the relevant article but preceding cases arising on foot of the particular articles. There are generous references to the views of the drafting Committee (of which judicial notice must be taken of course). There are also references to the various submissions made to the European Court in relation to the cases concerned followed by an extract from the Judgement - but no more. At a point where one would expect an analysis followed by a conclusion in relation to the particular case, or indeed the end of the exposition of the case law etc., dealing with the particular article there is a very sparse commentary and quite often none at all. The result in this reviewer's opinion is a considerable lack of

clarity and a practitioner or law student coming to Convention Law for the first time would have considerable difficulty in grasping the essentials o t ^ g d m i t i m k m ^s / It is this lack of placing case law in an overall explanatory perspective together with the lack of com- mentary which causes the greatest difficulty with the book. The author's handling of Article 5(5) is rather characteristic of the approach throughout. The text of Article 5(5) is quoted. Immediately under this, without any intro- duction, comes references to the first case dealth with - de B/oos -v- Bouyer (1976). Part of the opinion expressed by the Advocate General in relation to this case is referred to. Then comes an extract from the judgement and nothing further - the author immediately proceeding to the next case Somafer -v- Saar Ferngas (1978). The facts are stated. There is an extract of some five lines from the opinion of the Advocate General. This is followed by an extract from the judgement and ruling at the end of which is a terse comment to the effect that it is in each case for the Court before which the matter comes to find the facts whereon it may be established t hat an effective place of business exists and to determine the legal position by reference to the concept of 'operations'. The next case immediately follows - B/anckaert & Wi/iems -v- Trost (1981) - with no introduction. The facts are set out. A four line reference to the opinion of the Advocate General is given together with an extract from the Judgement. There is no commen t ary and the author immediately proceeds to the next case Schotte -v- Par furns Rothschild (1987). Again there is no introduction. The facts are set out. There is a four line reference to the opinion of the Advocate General followed by an extract from the judgement. This is the end of Article 5(5) - as far as the author is concerned. The actual com- mentary consists of the few lines referred to above and described justifiably, it is t hough t, as 'terse'. From a practical point of view Article 5(5) has immense im- portance to the practitioner, particularly if any of his clients are contemplating penetrating markets of other contracting States (that is

THE EEC CONVENTION ON THE JURISDICTION AND THE EN- FORCEMENT OF JUDGMENTS Peter Byrne, [Round Hall Press, 1990, IRE45.00] While the preface to this book does not specifically set out in detail the purpose and aims of same it does express the aspiration that: "This book should be of benefit to anyone concerned with the law in this area. This includes not only Lawyers, Law students or Administrators but also those people within and outside the Community affected by the extensive scope of the Con- vention, whether in business or as private individuals". 'Convention Law' per se is not explained, neither is the reference to 'Conventions'. Convention Law in fact com- prises the 1968 Convention as amended to date by: The 1971 Protocol on the inter- pretation of the 1968 Con- vention by the European Court signed at Luxembourg on the 3rd of June, 1971; The Accession Convention of the United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland signed at Luxembourg on the 9th of October 1978; The Greek Accession Con- vention. The Conventions are taken in chronological order (together with the 1971 Protocol). The relevant article is quoted and underneath there is an exposition of the article concerned, largely comprising the views of the drafting Committee and extracts from the relevant Judgements of the European Court. Decisions of the Courts of Member States are not dealt wi t lf except in so far as they have a bearing on references by these National Courts to the European Court of Justice for an interpretive ruling. This is perfectly acceptable given that it is the European Court of Justice alone which interprets the Convention. The book does not in any way purport to be a 'potted' account or a schematic overview. Therefore given the magnitude of the task undertaken, the size of the book is somewhat surprising - a mere 246 pages taking in not only the Conventions, Protocol etc., as set out above but also five appendices and an index. The author therefore has chosen to

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