Selected readings on conflict of laws

Transport Agreement clearly contradict the language of the clauses quoted on the same page (page 50). The important and difficult topic of "civil jurisdiction," including the problem of choice of law, is treated in less than forty pages. Needless to say, the result is inadequate. The topic is covered much better, in true monographic fashion, by de Planta (see review in 51 A.J.I.L. 142 (1957)). In this and other chapters, the author assumes the desirability of uniformity, and never stops to question or justify this assumption. As is common among European writers, he completely ignores the existence of more than 48 jurisdictions with differing laws in the United States and the conclusions that might be drawn from this fact. In the chapter on criminal jurisdiction, the author dismisses the concept of concurrent jurisdiction without any serious examination of its merits or any attempt to inquire into its application to crimes committed on vessels in ports and the results of such application. The sketchiness of the book and the many inaccuracies largely deprive it of value as a general survey of the field. I t may be useful, however, as a guide to Dutch legislation, to which particular attention is paid.