Though The Export Trade has achieved and consolidated classic status in its field over a period of almost 40 years, covered by eight editions, the task of the author and editor has not on this occasion been a merely routine bringing up to date of a well-established text. As Professor Schmitthoff points out in his Preface, in many of the topics covered by the book revolutionary changes have taken place since the last edition appeared in 1980. Perhaps the most striking instance of this is in marine insurance, where forms and phraseology of venerable antiquity have disappeared, to be replaced by more starkly utilitarian documents, but this is merely one example which could be multiplied many times over.

Much of this sweeping process of change has, as in the case of marine insurance, been activated by international action directed towards the unification of international trade law. This has resulted in many new Conventions and other international arrangements. No less than 22 have been added since 1980 to the book’s Index of International Conventions and other Formulations, covering widely diverse topics ranging from agency, sale of goods and freight forwarding to force majeure, arbitration and patents. In particular, the recent revision of the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits required extended treatment and this revision is unlikely to remain for long unamended in the light of continuing changes in methods of transport and communication. The impetus of change is also reflected in the appearance of two new chapters, one on countertrade (with fundamental criticism of its increasing employment) and the other on containerization, covering what is aptly called at p. 526 “the legal Tower of Babel” of multimodal transport. Over 100 new cases, both from the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions, have also found a place in the text.

Professor Schmitthoff states that the principal challenge of this new edition was to ensure that it reflected the new climate of sophistication and refinement in international trade; to effect this, he has done much rewriting and reorganization. He has also explicitly borne in mind that the book has served the needs of three very different types of reader: the businessman, his legal adviser and the student. The singularly difficult goal of providing adequately