Common use of The 1955 Hague Conference Clause in Contracts

The 1955 Hague Conference. During discussions leading to the adoption of the 1955 Hague Protocol, the wording of Article 17 was not modified. Still, the term ‘accident’ was used on a few occasions, but essentially to illustrate situations involving the death of passengers or, more basically, air crashes.25 An interesting element is found in the comments made by the Inter- national Institute for the Unification of Private Law, which questioned the interest of keeping the term ‘accident’. Although its comments were not discussed or retained by negotiators, it is enlightening to read that it consid- ered that a definition would be useful: The texts prepared at the Brighton and San Remo meetings merely required that the damage be ‘in relation with the carriage’. After considerable discussion it was decided to retain the accident concept, provided the accident was defined in the following manner: ‘any factor unrelated to the person of the passenger which xxxxx his physical or mental integrity’.26 However, no definition was added to the 1955 Hague Protocol.