Blakeney, Michael --- "A Review of John S Mo's International Commercial Law" [1997] MurdochUeJlLaw 6; (1997) 4(1) Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law

	[Home] [Help] [Databases] [WorldLII] [Feedback]
	Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law

You are here: AustLII >> Australia >> Journals >> MurUEJL >> 1997 >> [1997] MurUEJL 6

[Global Search] [MurUEJL Search] [Help]

---

Review of John S Mo, International Commercial Law, (Sydney: Butterworths, 1997)

Author:	Michael Blakeney BA, LLB, LLM., Hons (Syd), MA, Hons (UNSW)
Issue:	Volume 4, Number 1 (March 1997)

1. International Trade Law has become an established field of study. This has occurred largely through the writings of Schmithoff, whose Schmithoff's Export Trade: the Law and Practice of International Trade (London: Steven & Sons, 1990) is now in it s ninth edition and Ryan, International Trade Law (Sydney: Law Book Co, 1975), Tiplady, Introduction to the Law of International Trade (Oxford: Professional Books, 1989) and Day, The Law of International Trade, 2nd ed (London: Butterworths, 1993). These t exts cover the areas of: international sale and carriage of goods by sea, air and land, insurance in the international sale transaction, payment in international sales and international commercial disputes.

2. John Mo, in this very substantial Australian text, attempts to establish a broader field of study. He defines international commercial law as "a body of legal rules, conventions, treaties, domestic legislation and commercial customs or usages, that gov erns international commercial or business transactions" (p.22). The areas which he covers in addition to the field of international trade are: international financing and banking, foreign investment, conflict of laws and the settlement of international co mmercial disputes, with particular reference to commercial law.

3. Mo commences his work with a much broader historical introduction than is customary. Most international trade law texts refer to the lex mercatoria of mediaeval Europe. Mo also considers the trade law of China, India and Japan, as well as the emergence of this law in Australia after the eighteenth century. The book is then divided into the six principal divisions which Mo identifies as comprising international commercial law.

4. The first of these divisions contains three chapters on contracts for the international sale of goods. A chapter on the international sale of goods under Australian law is followed by a detailed examination of contracts of sale under the Vienna Convent ion which became incorporated into the law of each Australian State in 1989. The heartland of international trade law is covered in the next chapter on contracts for the carriage of goods by sea, air and land.

5. The second substantive division of the book deals with the finance of trade and an introduction to international banking and financing. The latter contains a useful discussion of the role of the International Monetary Fund.

6. The law of international insurance is covered by chapters on marine insurance and international trade and on international services of international trade. A particular strength of Mo's book is its coverage of the various agreements that comprise the U ruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which was concluded at Marrakesh in April 1994. One of the new GATT agreements introduced in the Uruguay Round is the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) which Mo discusses in a b rief chapter. In due course this topic will warrant a more substantial coverage.

7. An original contribution is the chapters dealing with foreign investment law. After an introductory chapter Mo examines the foreign investment laws of Australia, China, Taiwan and Japan. There is no explanation as to why these countries, in particular, are selected. The amount of Australian investment in Japan and Taiwan is probably minimal. Of greater antipodean interest would have been the foreign investment regimes of some of the ASEAN countries. If Mo was seeking to examine some exemplar foreign in vestment rules, he could have examined the Andean Pact regime or the foreign investment rules of Nigeria and India which are the touchstone countries in Africa and Southern Asia.

8. GATT 1994 is briefly examined in the next section of the book. This division is worthy of substantial upgrading in the next edition of Mo. Brief mention is made of the establishment of the World Trade Organisation, which was probably the most substanti al outcome of the Uruguay Round. An area which is perfunctorily mentioned by Mo is the Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) which was another new departure for the GATT. Fortunately this subject has generated its own text: Blake ney, Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights: A Concise Guide (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1997). The border control provisions of TRIPs are worthy of some discussion in a text on international commercial law.

9. Mo concludes with two substantial chapters on the settlement of international commercial disputes. The latter of these deals with alternative means of settling international commercial disputes particularly through commercial arbitration.

10. Reproduced as appendices are the Vienna Sales Convention, the Australian Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1991, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and some selected provisions of the 1994 GATT.

11. These appendices are a reflection of the indulgence of Mo's publishers who have permitted a book in excess of 700 pages. The book is an interesting blend of detailed textual analysis of the relevant laws, interspersed with the headnotes to leading case s. This fairly effectively maintains the attention of the reader by providing plenty of instances of international commercial law in action.

12. It is too early to see whether Mo has been successful in establishing international commercial law as a new branch of law, but this book is a very brave attempt.