In his introduction to this work the author adopts the term “treatise”. This is a term so often utilised by both authors and reviewers with unwarranted generosity. The instant work is not such a case. Beneath the simple, albeit prolixious, title is concealed a comprehensive examination and lucid exposition of the law of carriage. The perspective is throughout realistically and informatively broad. The law relating to all the principal forms of transportation is expounded, both in the context of national and international carriage, together with an analysis of the various commercial activities closely and often inextricably associated with carriage. The upshot is a work of substantial range, merit and relevance. Both the book and its author are American and the orientation throughout, and quite naturally, is that of the jurisprudence and practice of the United States. This, however, is no cause for a peremptory dismissal of the book by the “home” consumer. The book builds on the common heritage of the common law, many familiar concepts appear in the U.S. legislation, for example, COGSA 1936, and there is a benefit to be derived from a comparative examination of common concepts. The book also examines international carriage and its uniform legal regulation. In the result there is much in this book to interest English lawyers and others more generally involved in international commerce.

The book is confined to an examination of contracts of carriage simpliciter and there is no consideration given, beyond the occasional and indirect reference, to contracts of “use” or “hire” whereunder the purport may be the carriage of goods. Within the parameters of the book the author examines all the principal modes of transportation—land, sea, water, rail and air. Throughout, the focus is on the legal resolution of disputes appertaining to loss, damage or delay in the course of transit, and rights of exclusion, limitation and indemnity. The structure of the book in fact revolves around these considerations rather than the mode of transportation. In each case, the law is developed from an exposition of the underlying common law, through its municipal phases, and concluding with an examination of relevant international conventions such as CMR, CIM, Warsaw Convention, and the Hague Rules and Visby amendments. The book pre-dates the Hamburg Rules.

A particularly praiseworthy aspect of this work is its “commerciality”. This quality manifests itself in two broad ways. Firstly, the author presents the law against the