1\. On a proper construction, Article 57 of the Brussels Convention of 27 September 1968 on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, as amended by the Convention of 9 October 1978 on the accession of the Kingdom of Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, means that, where a Contracting State is also a contracting party to another convention on a specific matter containing rules on jurisdiction, that specialized convention precludes the application of the provisions of the Brussels Convention only in cases governed by the specialized convention and not in those to which it does not apply.

2\. On a proper construction of Article 21 of the Convention, where two actions involve the same cause of action and some but not all of the parties to the second action are the same as the parties to the action commenced earlier in another Contracting State, the second court seised is required to decline jurisdiction only to the extent to which the parties to the proceedings before it are also parties to the action previously commenced; it does not prevent the proceedings from continuing between the other parties.

3\. On a proper construction of Article 21 of the Convention, an action seeking to have the defendant held liable for causing loss and ordered to pay damages has the same cause of action and the same object as earlier proceedings brought by that defendant seeking a declaration that he is not liable for that loss.

4\. A subsequent action does not cease to have the same cause of action and the same object and to be between the same parties as a previous action where the latter, brought by the owner of a ship before a court of a Contracting State, is an action in personam for a declaration that that owner is not liable for alleged damage to cargo transported by his ship, whereas the subsequent action has been brought by the owner of the cargo before a court of another Contracting State by way of an action in rem concerning an arrested ship, and has subsequently continued both in rem and in personam, or solely in personam, according to the distinctions drawn by the national law of that other Contracting State.

5\. On a proper construction of Article 22 of the Convention, it is sufficient, in order to establish the necessary relationship between, on the one hand, an action brought in a Contracting State by one group of cargo owners against a shipowner seeking damages for harm caused to part of the cargo carried in bulk under separate but identical contracts, and, on the other, an action in damages brought in another Contracting State against the same shipowner by the owners of another part of the cargo shipped under

the same conditions and under contracts which are separate from but identical to those between the first group and the shipowner, that separate trial and judgment would involve the risk of conflicting decisions, without necessarily involving the risk of giving rise to mutually exclusive legal consequences.

_

The Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, in particular Articles 21, 22 and 23,

does not apply to proceedings, or issues arising in proceedings, in Contracting States concerning the recognition and enforcement of judgments given in civil and commercial matters in non-contracting States.

_

1 . ARTICLE 18 OF THE CONVENTION OF 27 SEPTEMBER 1968 ON JURISDICTION AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF JUDGMENTS IN CIVIL AND COMMERCIAL MATTERS APPLIES EVEN WHERE THE PARTIES HAVE BY AGREEMENT DESIGNATED A COURT WHICH IS TO HAVE JURISDICTION WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 17 OF THAT CONVENTION .

2 . ARTICLE 18 OF THE CONVENTION OF 27 SEPTEMBER 1968 MUST BE INTERPRETED AS MEANING THAT THE RULE ON JURISDICTION WHICH THAT PROVISION LAYS DOWN DOES NOT APPLY WHERE THE DEFENDANT NOT ONLY CONTESTS THE COURT ' S JURISDICTION BUT ALSO MAKES SUBMISSIONS ON THE SUBSTANCE OF THE ACTION , PROVIDED THAT , IF THE CHALLENGE TO JURISDICTION IS NOT PRELIMINARY TO ANY DEFENCE AS TO THE SUBSTANCE , IT DOES NOT OCCUR AFTER THE MAKING OF THE SUBMISSIONS WHICH UNDER NATIONAL PROCEDURAL LAW ARE CONSIDERED TO BE THE FIRST DEFENCE ADDRESSED TO THE COURT SEISED .

3 . ARTICLE 22 OF THE CONVENTION OF 27 SEPTEMBER 1968 APPLIES ONLY WHERE RELATED ACTIONS ARE BROUGHT BEFORE COURTS OF TWO OR MORE CONTRACTING STATES .

4 . ARTICLE 17 OF THE CONVENTION OF 27 SEPTEMBER 1968 MUST BE INTERPRETED AS MEANING THAT THE LEGISLATION OF A CONTRACTING STATE MAY NOT ALLOW THE VALIDITY OF AN AGREEMENT CONFERRING JURISDICTION TO BE CALLED IN QUESTION SOLELY ON THE GROUND THAT THE LANGUAGE USED IS NOT THAT PRESCRIBED BY THAT LEGISLATION .

_