October 1, 2002
Document: “A 73-Year Odyssey: The Time Has Come for a New International Air Liability System”
By David Rapoport and Hans Ephraimson-Abt
Written in 2002 and published in Issues in Aviation Law and Policy, this article takes an in-depth look at the Montreal Convention, a treaty designed to ensure a uniform system of international air liability. Prior to the Montreal Convention, there existed no consistent system of rules and regulations regarding an air carrier’s liability for passengers injured on international flights. In a detailed chronology of the many treaties and air disasters that helped shape the mold for the Montreal Convention, the authors demonstrate both the importance of a uniform system as well as the consequences to plaintiffs if a consistent system of liability is not available on the international scale.
This article was co-authored with Hans Ephraimson-Abt, who lost his daughter in the Korean Air Lines Soviet Shoot Down Disaster.
Published 2002, CCH INCORPORATED. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted
with permission from “Issues in Aviation Law and Policy.”
