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The twenty-fifth annual report of the Bank for International Settlements was made public in June 1955. In reviewing the period April 1, 1954—March 31, 1955, the report noted that 1954 had been a fundamentally prosperous year; in most countries of Europe the volume of production had continued to increase during 1954, and in the United States and Canada output had begun to rise again in the second half of the year and had continued to increase in the early months of 1955. The progress had been all the more notable since it had been achieved concurrently with an unusual degree of over-all price stability and without any resurgence of major balance-of-payments difficulties; in these respects the conditions prevailing in 1954 had been a continuation of those of the two preceding years. In discussing the 1953–1954 recession in the United States and the recovery which had taken place in the United States since the autumn of 1954, the report outlined the forces and policies which it felt had enabled the recession to be halted effectively and fairly rapidly: 1) the great wealth and liquidity of the United States economy; 2) the operation of various "automatic stabilizers", such as income tax and unemployment insurance, which had not been dependent upon new policy decisions, but had come into operation of their own accord; 3) other factors conducive to stability, such as long-term borrowing, the insurance of individual bank deposits against loss to the depositor up to $10,000, and the system of margin requirements which had been introduced in 1934; 4) special steps taken by the authorities in the field of fiscal and credit policy; and 5) the continued economic expansion in western Europe.

Ambatielos Case: When oral proceedings in the preliminary objection in the Ambatielos Case opened on May 15, as announced, the President of the Court stated that the Greek government had designated an ad hoc judge in the person of Mr. Jean Spiropoulos. Sir Eric Beckett, counsel for the United Kingdom, stated that, in spite of the United Kingdom's contention that the jurisdiction of the Court should be accepted as widely as possible by states, it felt bound to contest the jurisdiction of the Court in the case under consideration because: 1) the dispute related to facts occurring before 1930 when the United Kingdom first accepted the Optional Clause; 2) it considered the claim of denial of justice completely unfounded on the merits; 3) it considered it clear that municipal remedies had not been exhausted; and 4) no claim of any denial of justice or other breach of an international obligation was made until 1933, ten years after the events and eight years after a refusal of a request ex gratia in which it had been admitted that no legal claim could be made. Sir Eric explained that the United Kingdom, although it took the preliminary objection that the Court had no jurisdiction, had filed a comprehensive counter-memorial on the merits of the case in order that the Greek government's aspersions on the administration of justice in the English High Court and Court of Appeal should not appear on the record unrefuted. Further, the United Kingdom denied that the terms of the 1886 or 1926 treaties (or the declaration appended to the latter) between the two governments lent any support to the Greek government's claims on behalf of Mr. Ambatielos.

The charges that air carriers pay for the use of airports and airways to provide international air service have become a source of recurrent and heated controversy between governments. This controversy largely stems from the rapid rise in user charges over the last decade, but it has been fed by the lack of uniformity practiced by some countries in levying these charges. Thus, the relatively specialized issue of user charges involves some important general concerns of international law, such as international economic cooperation (in the matter of arriving at general agreement on what constitutes reasonable charges), discrimination, and most-favorednation treatment.

The first thirty years of the nineteenth century saw the beginnings of a great revolution in transportation and communication. Improvements were introduced which in time greatly changed the daily lives of people throughout the world, and made it possible for their efforts to reach out as never before in human history. The change was nowhere more significant than in its effect on international society. A century ago, the railroad, the steamship and the telegraph so extended the range of human action that national organization ceased to correspond with the activities of many peoples, and the state system upon which the nineteenth century dawned was greatly modified by the progress made in international organization before the century had passed. Certainly no period up to that time had produced such changes as those which began in the decades between 1800 and 1830.

This book is the first ever comprehensive analysis of the scope and role of the exemption clause in Article 80 of the International Sales Convention (CISG). The book accounts for the historical background of Article 80, the relation to other provisions (Articles 77 and 79), the underlying principles and the connection to good faith, and argues that the provision is an expression of the duty to cooperate. Furthermore, the conditions for applying the exemption rule and the legal consequences of application are clarified to the benefit of any practitioner. A chapter on homeward trends points out some of the challenges that Article 80 poses to international uniformity. Extensive comparisons to UPICC and PECL are carried out. The book is relevant to scholars, adjudicators and practitioners alike.