Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
BOOK REVIEW - THE LAW OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE (2ND EDITION)
THE LAW OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE (2nd Edition) by Mark S. W. Hoyle, B.A., Ph.D., A.C.I.Arb., M.B.I.M., of the Inner Temple and Gray’s Inn, Barrister. CCH Editions Ltd., Bicester (1985, vii and 435 pp., plus 36 pp. Appendices, 20 pp. Tables and 26 pp. Index). Paperback £15.
This book is a publication of the Commerce Clearing House Inc. It seems to be aimed at businessmen with little or no previous knowledge of law and explains in lucid manner all aspects of the law of international trade, albeit in limited depth. The second edition, four years after the first, is justified by recent developments in the field, the author citing especially the revised UCP for bankers’ commercial credits.
It cannot, however, be regarded as an adequate student textbook, at least at university level. Probably it is not intended to be. Students may well find it useful as supplementary reading, or as introductory reading, because the book provides an excellent outline description of the institutions of international trade, the varieties of contract used, and the methods by which such trade is carried out and financed. Indeed, in this regard the book probably has no equal. As far as the law itself is concerned, though, there is inadequate depth and conceptual analysis is poor. This is a pity, because students in this area are presently ill catered for, and there seems to be a gap in the market which Hoyle does not fill.
The foreword by Sir John Donaldson, M.R., stresses the brevity of style and comprehensiveness of coverage. The coverage is certainly comprehensive. All types of
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