Carriage by Air: The Hague Protocol

Abstract

ON October 12, 1929, a Convention 1 for the unification of certain rules relating to international carriage by air was signed at Warsaw on behalf of His Majesty. Exactly two years and nine months later, on July 12, 1932, the Carriage by Air Act 2 reached the Statute Book, the object of the Act being to make provision for giving effect to the Warsaw Convention in English law. The Act, was, of course, no more than an enabling statute and it was not until May 15, 1933, that the Convention actually came into force as between the United Kingdom and the other High Contracting Parties to the Convention. The foregoing time scale would seem to suggest that one might with some confidence look forward to action by the Government in the near future with regard to the ratification of the Hague Protocol,3 which was opened for signature on September 28, 1955. It might even be thought that action is overdue. It is known that various interested parties have from time to time made representations to the Government urging the ratification of the Hague Protocol by the United Kingdom, but hitherto without avail. Ratification could not take place until after the enactment of legislation designed to give the provisions of the Protocol the force of law in the United Kingdom, and pressure of other business had made it impossible for the Government to find parliamentary time for the passage of the necessary Act. On November 23 last year, however, a Private Member's Bill was introduced in the House of Commons with the object of giving effect to the Warsaw Convention as amended at the Hague, 1955, and to enable the rules contained in that Convention to be applied, with or without modification, in other cases and, in particular, to non-international carriage by air. The Bill was subsequently enacted as the Carriage by Air Act, 1961,4 receiving the Royal Assent on June 22, 1961. The present is, therefore, an opportune moment to review the