The old chestnut of a problem concerning the apparent lack of consideration for a documentary credit and its independence from the underlying main contract causes Mr Ventris to recall “the apocryphal story of the ‘ancien élève’ of the Ecole Polytechnique who submitted a bee to a minute aerodynamic inspection and wrote in his report: ‘The shape, size, weight and resultant wing-loading of a bee is such that it is quite impossible for it to fly. Fortunately for the bee it is unaware of this and goes on flying’”. Were it not for the utility of Mr Ventris’s case-note appendix, this reviewer would have likened the continued viability of this book to the flight of the bee.

The substance of the book falls into three main parts: the text of the ICC Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (1974 Revision) with Mr Ventris’s commentary thereon; an “appendix” (more than half the book) of summaries of leading cases, again with the author’s commentary; and, sandwiched between the two (with a few other brief chapters) a section entitled “Casualties and Inquests” offering further cautionary comments on some of the cases in the appendix, and some unreported cases known to the author.

The book is not at all like others on this subject. It could be a useful complement. Though a barrister, Mr Ventris does not intend it as a legal textbook. So it is refreshing to have a treatment which is not a lawyer’s, banker’s or academic’s view. It leads in places to an anti-bank stance, but he is also firmly anti-lawsuit and gives plenty of practical advice on how to avoid difficulties. In such a context, a lack of the precision of expression expected of lawbooks might be forgiven. The legal and the practical do get confused: “must” is sometimes a legal imperative, but at other times just an exhortation to good practice; only in a non-legal sense should credits be called “guarantees” (e.g., pp. 9, 46, 66) and the banks’ dealing in documents be called “purchase” (e.g., pp. 14,109). It is not accurate enough to suggest that banks’ standard forms specify that the ICC Rules apply (p. 1) (always?); or that a beneficiary is not a party to the contract of carriage (p. 5) (ever?); or that a beneficiary will be paid for any rubbish supplied provided that the documents conform on their face (p. 141) (what about the fraud exception?).

Though some generality of expression might be acceptable in a book intended primarily for the businessman and the student, statements of law should be accurate. “Executed” consideration is not the same as “past” consideration (p. 60). The bank-beneficiary credit contract arises before tender of documents (p. 65; and cf. p. 8). Contracts need not be signed (p. 44; cf. p. 71). A c.i.f. buyer is not always obliged to take up documents for goods which have perished (p. 43), and property in a c.i.f. sale