Every legal system, at the outset of court proceedings, has rules aimed at safeguarding parties' interests during the time needed to obtain a judgment on the merits. However, as the European Commission put the case in a 1997 communication, 'a comparative survey of national legislation reveals that there are virtually no definitions of provisional/protective measures and that the legal situations vary widely. The only convergence that can be ascertained is between the function of such measures.'

Recognizing that after almost twenty years the issues noted by the Commission have not found a satisfactory solution, here at last is a book that collects and compares the ideas behind the 'preliminary injunction' (an expression the authors use as a general term for a great variety of provisional and precautionary measures) with an eye to defining and organizing this small but very important aspect of the law. Although the analysis touches on relevant measures from many countries, the authors focus on the national legislation in four EU Member States - England, France, Germany, and Italy - to highlight the nature of the differences these kinds of measures entail. They compare and contrast such aspects as the following:

• - differences in civil procedure;
• - the types of measures that may be taken;
• - the terms on which preliminary injunctions, which are normally directly enforceable, may be ordered by a court;
• - the kind of assets that may be affected;
• - the relationship between proceedings in an interlocutory action and proceedings on the substance;
• - necessity of credible evidence that immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage will result if no preliminary injunction is granted; and
• - the role of protective measures in summary proceedings.

The study also describes and examines the recent European order for payment (EC Regulation No. 1896/2006), the most significant existing transnational instrument aimed at granting preliminary protection of creditors' rights.

This incomparable book represents a major contribution to a growing debate, particularly in Europe, on ways and means of securing equivalent protection for all litigants. Given the variety of legal systems and of measures available, the debate will have to focus on the functions served by provisional/protective measures, the minimum conditions to be satisfied, the adversary procedure requirement, the enforceability of the measures, and possible redress procedures. There is no more thorough and reliable resource available to clarify these issues for practitioners and interested policymakers everywhere.