Volumes I, II and III of this reference work were published in 1976, 1980 and 1984, respectively. The core of the books consists of court decisions involving the Hague Conventions in force in the field of private international law. This wealth of information has been made accessible by arranging the decisions per Convention and then per legal issue, thus clearly showing similarities and differences in the application of each Convention by a variety of countries and tribunals. Considering the increasing number of Conventions between a growing number of parties, this system is eminently suited to illustrate problems of application. The cases decided in ten European countries, the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and Israel, cover the period from 1979 to 1989. Of at least equal importance in practice is the Situation actuelle as per April 1994, of the Conventions concluded since 1954. This survey shows the signatures, ratifications, reservations and other declarations relating to each Convention. The Conventions have given rise not only to a large number of cases, but also to a vast literature throughout the world, which appears in a 20-page bibliography arranged per session of the Hague Conference, and per Convention. The Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference has cooperated in the realization of this series, which will prove to be indispensable for practicing lawyers and legal scholars who have anything to do with the Hague Conference in any area of private international law or international procedural law.