Publication: Collection of Hague Conventions

Intersentia have recently published Recueil des Conventions / Collection of Conventions (1951-2009), edited by the Hague Conference. The blurb:

This eighth edition of the Collection of Conventions of the Hague Conference contains the most important multilateral treaties entered into under the auspices of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, which has been working on the progressive unification of private international law since 1893, and doing so as an intergovernmental organisation since 1955. This new edition, made necessary by a revision of the Hague Conference Statute and the adoption since 2003 of three new Conventions, reproduces the texts of the Hague Conventions in authentic versions as deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The text of the Statute is followed by 38 international Conventions concerning areas as numerous and varied as family law, trade and financial law, or administrative and judicial co-operation and international litigation. These include the most widely ratified and best known Hague Conventions such as the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention, the Hague Child Abduction Convention, the Hague Apostille, Service, Evidence and Access to Justice Conventions, as well as the most recent Hague Conventions on Choice of Court, Child Support and Maintenance Obligations.

The first seven Conventions, adopted between 1893 and 1904, are not included in this volume as they have since been superseded by more modern instruments. They are available for consultation, however, on the Hague Conference website.

The first nine Conventions were adopted in French only, and so are not reproduced in English herein. However, unofficial translations are available in several languages, including English and Spanish, and may be consulted on the Hague Conference website, together with the references of publications containing such translations.

You can also download a full table of contents (PDF). ISBN 978-90-5095-873-8. Price: 30 EUROS. Available to purchase from the Intersentia website.

I am hesitant to recommend it, per se, as most will no doubt be aware that all of the Hague Conventions (including the ones that have been superseded, and so are not present in the collection) are available for free from the Hague Conference website. Much the same argument applied to the Hess/Schlosser/Pfeiffer report on Brussels I, which can be had for free from the Commission website, but costs £66 to purchase in book form. Adrian Briggs pointed to the obvious logical flaw in that model in a recent review of the Brussels I Study ([2009] LMCLQ 268), and the same can be said here. Insofar as you might wish to have a physical copy of the Conventions on your bookshelf, however, the Collection is competitively priced.