Common Market Law of Competition. By C. W. Bellamy and G. D. Child. Second edition. [London: Sweet & Maxwell. 1978. pp. 492 including index. £19·75.]

Published date01 November 1979
Date01 November 1979
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1979.tb01575.x
Nov.
19791
REVIEWS
739
COMMON MARKET LAW
OF
COMPETITION.
By
C.
W.
BELLAMY and
G.
D.
CHILD. Second edition. [London
:
Sweet
&
Maxwell. 1978.
pp.
492 including index.
f
19.75.1
TIIE
second edition of
Eellamy
niid
Child
is particularly welcome at a time
when the principles and practice of
EEC
competition law arc at last
crystallising into some sort
of
h
coherent antitrust system.
Almost completely rewritten since
1973
and up to date to September
1977,
the book is the nearest to a British counterpart
of
the comprehensive tomes
of
such distinguished continental authors as Mestmlcker. Some chapters, such
as
Chapter
8
on
Exclusive Dealing Agreements and Chapter
9
on Industrial
Propcrty, are outstanding, whereas others, for example Chapter
11
on
Mergers and Joint Ventures, disappoint.
It
is
unfortunate that the learned authors limited their treatment of
mergers and joint ventures to a mainly historical review of the material.
As
can be
seen
from the vigorous debate in the United States the control
of
horizontal, vertical and, in particular, conglomerate mergers has become an
extremely important issue
in
those industrial societies which uphold the virtues
of
the free market.
It
would have been intere.ting to read the opinion of
the authors
on
the possible directions in which the law may develop and
their views on what will happen if, as seems likely, a Merger Regulation
is not forthcoming.
A
disappointing feature of the book
is
the sparsity
of
references to United
States antitrust cases and materials. While accepting that the literature is
voluminous, it is suggested that, for example, a footnote in the section on
‘’
agreements
and
rcstrictive practices
referring the reader to Professor
Turner’s landmark article in the
Harvard Law Review
would not come amiss.
However, the reviewer agrees with the view on the dust-jacket that
(p)ractising lawyers, legal advisers, economists and civil servants will find
this book of immense value.” The students studying competition Jaw in the
IJniversity
or
Polytechnic will, on the other hand, lament both the lack
of
discussion of many of the moot points of this area of European law and also
the frightening price. Publishers are now entering the law field in increasing
numbers and it is
to
be hoped that the forces
of
competition will drive the
price of essential books, such as
Bellamy
arid
Child,
down to levels which
the student living on a grant, and not
just
the tax-deducting practitioner, can
afford.
DAVlD LLeWELYN.
COMPARATIVE LAW
:
WESTERN EUROPEAN
AND
LATIN AMERICAN
LEGAL SYSTEMS. CASES
AND
MATERIALS.
By
JOHN
HENRY
MERRYMAN and DAVID
S.
CLARK. [Bobbs-Merrill.
1978.
xlvii
+
1278
pp.
incl. index). $23.00.1
THERE
are, it may be said, two conflicting traditions
in
the teaching
of
comparative law
:
the panoramic approach, epitomised by David’s
Grunds
Systdrnes
de
Droit
Contemporains,
in which at
a
necessarily simplified level
the principal features of the world’s legal systems are viewed against their
cultural background: and the in-depth study of
a
particular foreign system
and perhaps a particular area of law within that system, with heavy
concentration on primary sources in the original language
(cj.
Kahn-Freund.
Levy and Rudden.
A
Soirrcebook
011
French
Law.)
The work under review would seem to combine many of the advantages
of
both approaches. The survey takes in !he civil law systems as a whole
but at points where detail is considered to be especially illuminating it
immerses the reader into characteristic legislation or court decisions (though

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