Recovery for Mental Harm under Article 17 of the Warsaw Convention: An Interpretation of Lesion Corporelle

The Warsaw Convention limits recovery in litigation involving international aircraft accidents. Although the text of the Convention originally was drafted in French, United States courts generally rely on an English translation for interpretation. This Note illustrates potential difficulties based on the use of each of these versions and focuses on the concept of mental anguish and its diverging interpretations under the civil-law and common- law systems. The Note concludes that uniformity of interpretation is best served if the French legal meaning of any controverted term is treated as controlling