As he mentions in his Foreword to this book it was Professor Berlingieri who originally proposed to the Comité Maritime International the idea of a comparative study of the law of shipbuilding contracts in different maritime jurisdictions. The CMI is one of the international organizations which studies and makes recommendations on the development and harmonization of maritime law. Much of its work delivers practical results, particularly in the field of international maritime Conventions, but part of its work is of more academic interest and the comparative study of shipbuilding contracts falls into this category.

Dr Clarke’s book is an analysis and commentary on the results of the CMI studies on certain aspects of shipbuilding contracts, including the formation of the contract, the price, registration and security, risk, breach and termination. It deals with the position in outline under the laws of Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States, Yugoslavia, Sweden, Germany and perhaps surprisingly Argentina—a somewhat daunting task in only 178 pages!

All these countries have a limited degree of shipbuilding capacity, although world economic factors and in particular the cost of skilled labour has resulted in the fact that much of the world shipbuilding capacity is now concentrated in the Far East. European countries have retained some international shipbuilding capacity, although regrettably the failure of the United Kingdom Government to support the shipbuilding industry has meant that there is only a very limited shipbuilding capacity in this country. However, notwithstanding the reduced prominence of the U.K. in shipbuilding, English law is pre-eminent as the law governing shipbuilding contracts, since many international shipbuilding contracts are governed by English law.

In English law shipbuilding contracts are contracts for the sale of goods (Cammell Laird & Co. Ltd. v. Manganese Bronze & Brass Co. Ltd. [1934] A.C. 402, per Lord Wright) to which the Sale of Goods Act 1979 applies, although, as Dr Clarke points out, in Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. v. Papadopoulos [1980] 1 W.L.R. 1129 at least one member of the House of Lords appears to have regarded a shipbuilding contract as a hybrid contract.

Until recently there was no textbook relating specifically to shipbuilding contracts and the law was to be found in books on the sale of goods (e.g., Benjamin on Sale now Benjamin’s Sale of Goods, 4th edn. and Atiyah’s Sale of Goods, 9th edn.) and of course there were the books relating to the construction of buildings etc., but these were of only limited assistance. The first edition of Dr Clarke’s book (1982) was the first book specifically to deal with shipbuilding contracts, although since that time Simon Curtis has published his book on the Law of Shipbuilding Contracts (1991). Dr Clarke’s book, of course, is a comparative analysis of contracts in the major maritime jurisdictions, whereas Mr Curits’ book is limited to shipbuilding contracts under English law but because of this Benjamin and Curtis tend to be more useful from a practical point of view.

Clarke does emphasize the difference of approach sometimes between the common law and the civil law systems and insofar as it relates to the common law position it is a useful commentary on the more important clauses in shipbuilding contracts. Also the reference and comments in the footnotes contain much detailed and interesting information. However, if one is advising on a shipbuilding contract governed by English law, one would tend to refer at least initially to books such as Benjamin and, if one is advising on a shipbuilding contract governed by a foreign system of law, then one would be well advised to send the papers to a lawyer qualified in the relevant jurisdiction without delay rather than to endeavour to look