by several writers, since admiralty law is based in civil law concepts. However, there is no equivalent in the French Civil Code or Roman law. In Scotland, the concept was developed in the 18th century and was later incorporated into English common law. It was first adopted in Scotland in 1610, the case being Vernor v Elvies [1610] Mor 4788, as an extension of forum non competens; two English residents were tried in Scotland argued a Scottish trial would be inconvenient, the court ruling "The Lords will not find themselves Judges betwixt two Englishmen". It was expanded and applied in the 1860s (in Clements v Macauley [1866] 4 S 224 and Longworth v Hope [1865] 3 S 1049), which led to its incorporation into English law. The pleading was used in situations where the competence of the court was unchallenged (unlike forum non competens) but the court was asked to invoke its discretion. The doctrine had been applied in several jurisdictions under varying names; in the 1793 case Robertson v Kerr, a Massachusetts court refused to apply jurisdiction in a case involving a foreign transaction between non-residents. United Kingdom As a member of the European Union, the United Kingdom signed the Brussels Convention. The Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 as amended by the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1991 states: The case of Owusu v Jackson and Others before the European Court of Justice, was concerned with the relationship between Article 2 of the Brussels Convention and the scope of FNC within the European Community. In Owusu, the English Court of Appeal asked the ECJ whether it could stay a matter brought to it under Article 2 Brussels Convention pursuant to the English FNC rules. The Court held that the Brussels Convention was a mandatory set of rules designed to harmonise and so produce a predictable system throughout the EU. If states were able to derogate from the Convention using their domestic rules of civil procedure, this would deny a uniform result to proceedings based on forum selection. Hence, at 46. the ECJ held: However, some UK commentators argue that the FNC rules may still apply to cases where the other proceedings are not in a Member state but this remains uncertain. A Scottish Court may sist its proceedings in favour of the Courts of England or Northern Ireland on the ground of FNC, since this is settling intra-UK