Trevor Hartley, CHOICE-OF-COURT AGREEMENTS UNDER THE EUROPEAN AND INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS Oxford: Oxford University Press (www.oup.com), 2013. xlix + 495 pp. ISBN 9780199218028. £110.
| DOI | 10.3366/elr.2014.0224 |
| Published date | 01 May 2014 |
| Pages | 310-311 |
| Date | 01 May 2014 |
| Author | Katarina Trimmings,Paul R Beaumont |
Trevor Hartley has been an outstanding academic in the fields of private international law and European Union law for many years. He was also honoured by the Hague Conference on Private International Law by being appointed as one of two
The book is a systematic analysis of how choice of court agreements are dealt with in the Hague 2005 Convention, the Brussels I Regulation, the Brussels I Recast that enters into force on 10 January 2015 and the Lugano Convention. From 10 January 2015 it is to be hoped that the book will cover the vast majority of cases arising in the courts of an EU member state where a choice of court agreement has been entered into and that the proportion of cases covered by the text will steadily rise as more and more states ratify or accede to the Hague 2005 Convention. That this is not just wishful thinking is evidenced by the fact that the Commission on 30 January 2014 made a Proposal for a Council Decision on the approval, on behalf of the European Union, of the Hague Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements (COM(2014) 46 final). It is almost certain that the UK will opt in to this Proposed Decision and it is to be hoped that the Council of the EU will adopt the Decision in time for the Hague Convention 2005 to enter into force for the EU member states (apart from Denmark) on 10 January 2015. Already we know that the Brussels I Recast will significantly expand the number of cases involving choice of court agreements that fall within the scope of EU law because it applies to all cases where a court in a member state is chosen regardless of where the parties are domiciled. Broadly speaking the area left outside the scope of the provisions on choice of court agreements in the instruments analysed in the book is where the chosen court is not in an EU member state (because Brussels I is extended to Denmark by an Agreement between Denmark and the EU), or in a Lugano contracting state (currently Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), or in a Hague 2005 Convention contracting state (currently Mexico).
Professor Hartley's systematic analysis is succinct and yet comprehensive from the point of view of accurately...
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