The practice and legal theory under the Brussels Convention is constantly expanding, with the attendant need for monographs on specific aspects of the Convention. In that context, Dr Hertz’s book is a welcome addition to the Convention literature. The book is the author’s doctoral thesis, which was successfully defended in the University of Copenhagen in May 1998.

Despite the book’s entirely academic origin, it will appeal to a wide audience, including graduate students, law teachers and practitioners. The language is clear yet elegant, the analysis of the issues thorough and scholarly, and the suggestions of the author sensible. Practitioners might want more specific guidelines for their work, but this is not a defect of the book. In any event, Dr Hertz’s work contains all the sources and references necessary, and an exposition of all the fundamentals that would allow a reader with a concrete problem in mind to find an answer. A strong point of the book in that respect is the extensive reference to the facts and the reasoning of the important decisions of the European Court of Justice in interpreting the Convention. Extensive reference is also made to