The second edition of this uniquely wide-ranging work once again grapples with the dynamic and complex fields of law that make up the modern law of international commerce, finance and trade. As a guide for students and practitioners it is unrivalled.

The original structure has been retained, with an extensive introductory chapter dealing with the sources of modern commercial and financial law in its comparative context, the forces of transnationalisation and the development of the modern law merchant or lex mercatoria as a largely autonomous finance-driven event. Further chapters deal with modern developments in contract, payments, moveable tangible and intangible assets and the emergence of new proprietary rights in them. Later chapters look at finance leases, repos, receivable financings and securitisations, the regulation of cross-border financial services and investment banking practices.

From the reviews of the first edition:
"The essence of Dalhuisen's contribution is that it synthesizes and integrates diverse bodies of law into a coherent and accessible account...remarkable in its scope and depth. It stands alone in its field not only due to its comprehensive coverage, but also its original methodology. Although it appears to be a weighty tome, in fact, in light of its scope, it is very concise. While providing a wealth of intensely practical information, its heart is highly conceptual and very ambitious. It is likely to become a classic text in its field."
Jane K Winn, in the American Journal of Comparative Law

"Dalhuisen's style is relaxed...what he writes convinces without the need for an excess of references to sources...a highly valuable contribution to the legal literature. It adopts a useful, modern approach to teaching the young generation of lawyers how to deal with the increasing internationalisation of law. It is also helpful to the practising lawyer and to legislators."
Christina Hultmark Ramberg in the Uniform Law Review/Revue de Droit Uniforme

"this is a big book, with big themes and an author with the necessary experience to back them up. ... Full of insights as to the theories that underlie the rules governing contract, property and security, it is an important contribution to the law of international commerce and finance."
William Blair QC in Law Quarterly Review

"Professor Jan Dalhuisen... presents a very different case: that of a civilized and cultivated cosmopolitan legal scholar, with a keen sense of international commercial and financial practice, with an in-depth grounding in both comparative legal history and comparative law, combined with the ability to transcend conventional English black-letter law description with critical judgment towards institutional wisdom and intellectual fashions. ...a wide-ranging, historically and comparatively very deep and comprehensive commentary, but which is also very contemporary and forward-looking on many or most of the issues relevant in modern transnational commercial, contract and financial transactions.."
Thomas Wälde in International and Comparative Law Quarterly