Uniformity And Fragmentation Of The 1999 Montreal Convention On International Air Carrier Liability

The 1999 Montreal Convention is the most recent in-force treaty to regulate several important aspects of international air carrier liability in a uniform manner. This book examines in detail to what extent the 1999 Montreal Convention’s aim of uniformity has been achieved. To this end, it scrutinizes the exact scope of this aim and analyses the factors that may have prevented it from being fully achieved. It studies the wording of the treaty and its predecessors, their travaux préparatoires, the judicial decisions of numerous civil and common law jurisdictions, as well as various other interpretative tools. Among many others, themes addressed in this study include: exclusivity; the autonomy of terms used; translation issues; accident; bodily injury; damage; delay; consumer rights; the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties; hermeneutics; the Warsaw System; regional air law (including EU Regulation 261/2004); and algorithms. The study also suggests ways to reduce the fragmentation of the 1999 Montreal Convention with a series of directly applicable recommendations, and an analysis of what Artificial Intelligence could mean for the future. This book, which is intended to be practical, is aimed at all lawyers well-versed in aviation law as well as aviation enthusiasts. They will find it a useful tool for interpreting the 1999 Montreal Convention in a manner consistent with its ambition, as well as recent case law from all continents on hot topics.

The 1999 Montreal Convention came into force on 4 November 2003 and is in force for 66 States - among them almost all the States of major importance in international air transport. In this treatise, the authors present a compact analytical guide to the 1999 Montreal Convention addressing air carrier passenger and cargo liability in international aviation, with informative cross-references to the history of its provisions, similarities and differences with respect to the "Warsaw system", and the leading jurisprudence that has interpreted and applied the different provisions.

This unparalleled reference work on airline liability is written and edited by internationally revered experts and presents a comprehensive, article-by-article analysis of the Montreal Convention 1999 (MC99).

After decades of controversy, a unified liability system for international carriage by air was established by the Montreal Convention of 1999, which went into force in November 2003. The new convention replaced the legal labyrinth created by the numerous perplexing accretions that had attached themselves to the Warsaw Convention. In this indispensable volume, air law professionals will find the full English text of the Convention with detailed article-by-article annotation, including all developments to date in case law, legal literature, national and international legislation, and administrative law. The commentary covers ongoing developments in such crucial aspects as the following: applicability of the Convention; documents for carriage; liability for death or injury of passengers; liability for damages to baggage and cargo and for delay; exoneration from liability; carriage involving a contractual and an actual carrier; time limits for filing a claim and forfeiture; jurisdiction; exclusivity of the Convention versus applicability of national law; and insurance issues. In addition to the article-by-article annotation, the book features such useful information as a synopsis comparing the Warsaw and Montreal Conventions, IATA Conditions and Resolutions, relevant European Union Regulations, and a list of the contracting parties to the Convention. Given that the Montreal Convention’s application during its first 20 years has already documented a promising and forceful new beginning in the complex area of air transport liability, this incomparable research tool will provide an enormous wealth of information and guidance for anyone who deals with legal issues arising from civil air law, including lawyers, policymakers, insurers and academics.

International Air Carrier Liability brings together essential treaties and airline-to-airline agreements on air carrier liability, safety and security, and supplements these with expert commentary and analysis. The examination considers the general regulatory framework of international civil aviation (including the Chicago Convention and related documents) and how the liability regime fits within that framework. The book is divided into three parts: dealing in turn with liability, safety and security, and civil aviation regulation. Part I, for example, provides comment and analysis of the international air-carrier liability regime, how the main liability conventions operate, and the application of these conventions to international carriage by air (passengers, baggage and cargo). Given its subject matter and the universal state party participation in these conventions, this book has truly global application. David Hodgkinson and Rebecca Johnston aim to provide a reference aid for legal practitioners (at law firms, airlines, manufacturers, aviation-related corporations and government departments and agencies), as well as academics, students (undergraduate and post graduate) and government officials regarding treaties, domestic laws and documents concerned with these vital legal issues.

Law clerks, students and teachers.

This incisive book tackles a controversy that has plagued the Warsaw Convention 1929 and the Montreal Convention 1999 for decades: whether the conventions provide an independent cause of action upon which a plaintiff can rely directly when pleading their action, and, if so, whether that cause of action provides the exclusive remedy. This book resolves this controversy by presenting a new conceptual framework for understanding aviation law cause of action in the conventions.

Contracts of Carriage by Air, Second Edition contains annotated analysis of the provisions of the international conventions governing the carriage of goods and passengers by air. This book provides you with practical advice and brings you: • An overall view of the two liability regimes, followed by a short history of the Warsaw Convention in its various versions and what led to agreement on a single regime, the Montreal Convention, as well as the threat to uniformity posed by EC Directives. • A statement of the rules of interpretation applicable to conventions of uniform law, illustrated mainly by decisions of the air conventions. • Commentary on the text of the 1999 Montreal Convention together with commentary on the text of the 1967 Warsaw Convention. • Reference to decisions of the courts not only of the UK but also those of other common law countries, notably the USA, and countries of civil law, notably France and Germany.