Book reviews

Turkey in the Middle East By Philip Robins. Pinter for the Royal Institute of international Affairs. 1991.130 pp. £22.50. ISBNO 86187 198 7. PBk £8.95. ISBN 0 86187 1995.

Hitler Slept Late and other blunders that cost him the war By James P. Duffy. London: Praeger. 1991.176pp. £17.50.

Alliance within the alliance: Franco‐German Military Cooperation and the European Pillar of Defense By David G. Haglund. Boulder: Westview Press, 1991. 213 pp.

Homeward Bound? Allied Forces in the New Germany Edited by David G. Haglund and Olaf Mager. Boulder: Westview Press, 1992. 299 pp. £24.95

Avoiding War: Problems of crisis management By Alexander L. George (ed.), Westview Press, 1991. 590 pp. £16.95.

The Future of NATO: Facing an Unreliable Enemy in an Uncertain Environment By S.N. Drew et al. Praeger Publishers, New York, 1991. pp. 206.

Parliament and international relations Edited by Charles Carstairs and Richard Ware. Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1991. 195 pp. £12.99 (paperback)     

Wielding Occam's Razor: Pruning Strategies for Economic Loss

The English Court of Appeal is currently faced with three analyticallydistinct approaches to the question of when one party owes anothera duty of care in respect of her economic interests, all ofwhich bear the authority of the House of Lords. Unable to choosebetween them, it has recently adopted a fourth approach combiningwhich combines them, in the apparent belief that the combinationwill eradicate any individual deficiencies. Against the backgroundof a recent case, the author argues that this is a holding strategyat best and methodologically deficient. He also challenges thecontinuing lip-service paid by courts to models of liabilitybased upon ‘assumptions of responsibility,’ examiningand criticising the causes of their persistence in the law inthe face of widespread academic criticism. Instead, the authorargues, the House of Lords should now clearly endorse a singlereasoning strategy to economic loss cases based on the three-stageapproach in Caparo Industries v Dickman. Properly understood,this approach offers the best prospect of facilitating consistentand transparent decision-making in the longer term.     

EU update

This is the latest edition of the DLA Piper column on developments in EU law relating to IP, IT and telecommunications. This news article summarises recent developments that are considered important for practitioners, students and academics in a wide range of information technology, e-commerce, telecommunications and intellectual property areas. It cannot be exhaustive but intends to address the important points. This is a hard copy reference guide, but links to outside web sites are included where possible. No responsibility is assumed for the accuracy of information contained in these links.