Common use of Their Importance for Research Questions Clause in Contracts

Their Importance for Research Questions. Taking into account these limitations, the Travaux Préparatoires still have a significant importance in this study. First, they may occasionally provide a clear indication of the Conven- tions negotiators’ intentions, bearing in mind that the Minutes were some- times sent to delegations for approval prior to their publication.204 Thus whatever position the Conference arrived at with regard to the issue of mental injury, its intentions regarding the scope of liability must be made clear in the ‘travaux préparatoires’ of the Conference for the future interpretation of the Convention;205 […] it could not be left to the Courts to subsequently interpret the text of Article 16, paragraph 1, independently of the Conference’s ‘travaux préparatoires’;206 […] [the Delegate of the United States] noted that the conclusion which they had reached, and which they now proposed to the Group, was that the latter put together a series of hypothetical cases to illustrate how paragraph 2, sub- paragraph (a), would work in practical terms and include them in the ‘travaux préparatoires’ of the Conference. The Delegate of the United States averred that 203 See, ICAO Doc 9775, International Conference on Air Law (Convention for the Unifica- tion of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air), Montreal, 10 – 28 May 1999, volume II, Documents, Montreal 1999. 204 See, for example in the Minutes of the 1955 Hague Conference: ‘The President suggested – and the Conference agreed – that the minutes of the Conference be approved by the President and that the draft minutes be sent to the various Delegates so that they might make amendments which they considered appropriate before final publication’, ICAO Doc 7686, International Conference on Private Air Law, The Hague, September 1955, volume I, Minutes, Montreal September 1956, p. 414. 205 ICAO Doc 9775, International Conference on Air Law (Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air), Montreal, 10 – 28 May 1999, volume I, Minutes, Montreal 1999, p. 111. 206 Ibid., p. 116. that would be of great assistance to Courts, probably more so than if the Group were to spend several days trying to perfect the language of sub-paragraph (a).207 Third, because Courts have occasionally referred to them.208