Andrew Dickinson, THE ROME II REGULATION: THE LAW APPLICABLE TO NON-CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS Oxford: OUP (www.oup.com), Oxford Private International Law Series, 2008. lxx + 797 pp. ISBN 9780199289684. £155..
| Author | Elizabeth B Crawford |
| DOI | 10.3366/E1364980909001127 |
| Pages | 162-164 |
| Date | 01 January 2010 |
| Published date | 01 January 2010 |
The Rome II Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 864/2007), together with the forthcoming Rome I Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 593/2008) (hereinafter “Rome II” and “Rome I”), comprise the choice of law rules which an EU Member State court must apply, in a qualifying case, to a cross-border litigation involving issues arising, respectively, out of non-contractual and contractual obligations. Together with the Brussels I Regulation on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001) they form a triangle of provisions which regulate the assumption of jurisdiction and choice of law treatment of cases before British, and all other Member State, courts, in virtually the whole area of the law of obligations. One must temper the description by use of the word “virtually”, for reasons of material and temporal scope (e.g. because certain specific torts such as violation of privacy and rights relating to personality, including defamation, have been excluded from Rome II, and others such as liability following traffic accidents are unfinished business), but the remarkable fact remains that by 2009 we have witnessed the birth of a new era of harmonisation in European conflict of laws in the particular area of the law of obligations. We could have no finer commentary on events and on detailed provision, in tort mainly, but also as to general coherence and interaction of the three instruments, than has been provided by Andrew Dickinson in this admirable book. It is a measure of the author's charm, wit and enthusiasm for the subject of the conflict of laws that the reader approaches this magisterial tome with every confidence that one will be diverted as well as informed; and one is not disappointed. The author's writing remains engaging as well as indefatigably authoritative throughout. One finds the expert view on large and/or technical points, but one also relishes the occasional, recognisable, individual aside.
The book is published by Oxford University Press as part of its distinguished Private International Law Series, which aims to serve professional needs as well as to feed the academic appetite; it is one of the features of private international law that the gulf between these two is not as great as in other branches of the law. The author himself demonstrates this, by his expertise in both roles. However, notwithstanding the volume's appeal to the aficionado of the subject, its outstanding usefulness will be as a book of reference for the chamber and court practitioner. There is also a companion website (
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