Law Commons^™

The Teetotalling Winebibber: A Case Study For The International Sale Of Goods, Stephen M. Shrewsbury

Pace International Law Review

Case studies are very effective pedagogical tools available to business and legal educators. Hypothetical fact patterns provide instructors an additional advantage of being able to modify facts to target particular learning goals for students. This article presents a substantial case study and teaching notes for a hypothetical international sale of goods transaction. The facts presented will necessitate student research and examination of a wide range of legal issues related to contract negotiation and interpretation, shipping and related difficulties that might arise during contract execution, and issues related to disputes over the quality of goods. Questions in the study require students …

Are You In Or Out? Hong Kong And The Applicability Of The United Nations Convention On Contracts For The International Sale Of Goods, Cullen Threlkeld

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Non-Conformity Of Goods In Light Of Cisg, Unidroit Principles And The Palestinian Commercial Law Draft, Amin Dawwas

UAEU Law Journal

This research deals with non-conformity of goods under the 1980 United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) in terms of concept, criteria and timing. It also addresses the duties of the buyer upon taking over the goods, whether examination of the goods or giving notice to the seller of the non- conformity. Besides this research deals with all legal effects of non-conformity, whether the remedies the buyer has in such situations or the right of the seller to cure the non-conformity. It also covers all legal effects of the buyer’s failure to respect his duties, …

The Roots And Fruits Of Good Faith In Domestic Court Practice, Thomas Neumann

Pace International Law Review

Good faith—most lawyers have an opinion on these two words. While the notion of good faith may play specific roles at domestic and regional levels, it remains an elusive siren at the international level. The concept was subject to controversy at the birth of the 1980 United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and has been debated by scholars ever since. Considering that the Convention has now been in force for over thirty years, it is agreed that time is ripe for “a call to arms for further research into a uniform standard of good …

The Past, Present And Future Of The Cisg (And Other Uniform Commercial Code Law Initiatives), Harry Flechtner

Articles

As the keynote speaker of the Spring 2019 CISG Conference, Harry M. Flechtner, Professor Emeritus, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, candidly shares his perspectives on the development and progress of the Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) through the years. He begins with his initial introduction to the convention and then reflects upon several important issues and challenges facing the CISG, particularly involving uniform international law initiatives. Professor Flechtner looks hard at what's working and what's not and with a critical eye he draws attention to crucial matters yet to be resolved. While his perspective is light …

The Cisg: Applicable Law And Applicable Forums, Ronald A. Brand

Articles

Despite being in effect for over thirty years, a debate continues on whether the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) has been a success. With 89 Contracting States, it clearly is widely accepted. At the same time, empirical studies show that private parties regularly opt out of its application. It has served as a model for domestic sales law, and as an important educational tool. But has it been a success? In this article I consider that question, and suggests that the scorecard is not yet complete; and that it will perhaps take significantly …

Cisg Article 79: Exemption Of Performance, And Adaptation Of Contract Through Interpretation Of Reasonableness－Full Of Sound And Fury, But Signifying Something, Yasutoshi Ishida

Pace International Law Review

Article 79 of the CISG provides that “[a] party is not liable for a failure to perform any of his obligations” if the party has encountered a certain impediment defined therein. It was once depicted as “the Convention’s least successful part of the half-century of work.” It has been thirty years since the CISG took effect. However, the interpretation of Article 79 is as old and unsuccessful as ever. For one thing, it has long been interpreted against our intuition, not to exempt a party from specific performance claims. For another, the controversy has long continued unsettled over whether a …

Penalty Clauses – What Has Changed?, Bruno Zeller

Pace International Law Review

Building on two seminal cases that consider the character of penalty clauses, Paciocco v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd from Australia and Cavendish Square Holding BV v. Talal El Makdessi from England, this Article sheds a new light on the treatment of fixed sums and argues that the view on whether penalty clauses are governed by the CISG requires new considerations. Importantly, this Article demonstrates a two-step approach to the analysis of penalty clauses: 1) whether the sum in question is penal in nature, and 2) if so, whether the CISG determines the fate of the penalty clause …

Does The 1980 Vienna Sales Convention Reflect Universal Values? The Use Of The Cisg As A Model For Law Reform And Regional Specificities, Ulrich G. Schroeter

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Do We Need A Global Commercial Code?, Michael Joachim Bonell

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) first launched the idea of preparing a code of inter- national trade law. In 1970, the Secretariat of UNIDROIT submitted a note to the newly established United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in justification of such an initiative and indicated some of the salient features of the project. What was proposed was a veritable code in the continental sense. The proposed code included two parts: part one dealing with the law of obligations generally, and part two relating to specific kinds of commercial transactions. However, the “Progressive codification …

Good Faith – The Gordian Knot Of International Commerce, Bruno Zeller, Camilla Baasch Andersen

Pace International Law Review

This paper argues that good faith cannot be defined and furthermore that there is no need to define good faith as it takes on meaning when applied to facts. Hence an explanation or application of good faith is defined by its function namely to enforce the expected performance of both parties. It is further argued that the function of good faith will determine which fact pattern has to be found by a court in order to determine the expected performance of the contractual parties. It follows that good faith is the legal concept which allows courts to do justice and …

International B2b Contracts - Freedom Unchained?, Ingeborg Schwenzer, Claudio Marti Whitebread

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

No abstract provided.

Contractual Excuse Under The Cisg: Impediment, Hardship, And The Excuse Doctrines, Larry A. Dimatteo

Pace International Law Review

This article will examine the law of excuse as espoused in the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). It will examine the relevant case law applying the doctrine of impediment found in CISG Article 79. The question posed in this analysis is whether the word “impediment” relates only to the occurrences of force majeure, impossibility and frustration of purpose events or if it also includes changed circumstances, impracticability and hardship events. For purposes of simplicity, the first set of excuse or exemption doctrines will be analyzed under the heading of “impossibility” and the second set will …

The Conformity Of The Goods To The Contract In International Sales, Villy De Luca

Pace International Law Review

The present article aims to provide a general overview on the issue of conformity of the goods to the contract as regulated by Article 35 of the Convention on Contracts for the International Sales of Goods (“CISG”).

The analysis will focus on Article 35 CISG and, after having retraced the history that led to the current formulation of the provision, will concentrate on the implications following the adoption of a “unitary” notion of conformity. The evaluation will proceed focusing on the single express and implied conformity obligations covered, respectively, in the first and second paragraphs of Article 35 CISG.

The …

Is The Albert H Kritzer Database Telling Us More Than We Know?, Thomas Neumann

Pace International Law Review

This article is the first in a series of articles attempting to provide a geographical and temporal overview of the application practice of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). In this first article, the success of CISG is explored. The article develops the idea of using the Albert H. Kritzer Database to achieve an overview of the success of the Convention in practice. It is argued that the success of the Convention is useful to measure by its uniformity in practice, and therefore a set of criteria relating to the Convention’s application by …

The Hague Principles, The Cisg, And The 'Battle Of Forms', Peter Winship

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This paper considers the relation of the Hague Principles on Choice of Law in International Commercial Contracts to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) when parties to an international contract of sales refer during negotiations to their standard terms and these standard terms include choice-of-law terms that conflict.

Contractual Excuse Under The Cisg: Impediment, Hardship, And The Excuse Doctrines, Larry A. Dimatteo

UF Law Faculty Publications

This article will examine the law of excuse as espoused in the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). It will examine the relevant case law applying the doctrine of impediment found in CISG Article 79. The question posed in this analysis is whether the word “impediment” relates only to the occurrences of force majeure, impossibility and frustration of purpose events or if it also includes changed circumstances, impracticability and hardship events. For purposes of simplicity, the first set of excuse or exemption doctrines will be analyzed under the heading of “impossibility” and the second set will …

Book Review: Uniform Sales Law: The U.N. Convention On Contracts For The International Sale Of Goods. Dr. Peter Schlechtriem, Manzsche Verlags - Und Universitatsbuchhandlung, Vienna 1986, Pp. 120., Michael C. Doland

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Comparative Efficiency In International Sales Law, Larry A. Dimatteo, Daniel Ostas

Larry A DiMatteo

The article employs the method of the economic analysis of law (EAL) in a comparative context. In particular, it assesses the efficiency of select provisions of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The CISG is the law of the United States and over 70 other countries. It reflects a culmination of a century-old process of failed attempts to achieve an international sales law. The drafting process involved intense negotiation and compromise between representatives of the common and civil law legal traditions. As a result, the CISG provides in an interesting amalgam of civil …

Uniform Application And Interest Rates Under The 1980 Vienna Sales Convention, Franco Ferrari

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Cisg As Basis Of A Comprehensive International Sales Law, Larry A. Dimatteo

UF Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Deepening Confidence In The Application Of Cisg To The Sales Agreements Between The United States And Japanese Companies, Yoshimochi Taniguchi

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

Parties to contracts between U.S. and Japanese companies usually agree to exclude the application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (“CISG”) from the sales agreement due to concerns about how the CISG will be interpreted and/or incompatibility with U.S. or Japanese law or both. In this paper, the author will suggest that the more countries amend their laws in accordance with CISG standards and the more national courts develop a unified interpretation of the CISG, the more the CISG will represent harmonized law, and as such, contracting parties should not exclude it.

This …

Uk’S Ratification Of The Cisg – An Old Debate Or A New Hope For The Economy Of The Uk On Its Way Out Of The Recession: The Potential Impact Of The Cisg On The Uk’S Sme, Silvia E. Nikolova

Pace International Law Review Online Companion

The main hypothesis of this article is that the Vienna Convention on the International Sale of Goods has the potential to act as a catalyst for the economy of the UK on its way out of the recession and, therefore, should be ratified, as it will strongly affect the development of the SME sector. This hypothesis will be questioned and evaluated throughout the article.

In Part II of the article, the importance of the SMEs for the current economy of the UK will be assessed. Together with Part I, Part II will form the prism through which the remainder of …

International Sale Of Goods 2011, Gregory M. Duhl

Faculty Scholarship

In 2011, U.S. courts analyzed the scope, formation, and remedies provisions of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (“CISG”). Although the number of cases arising under the CISG is relatively small compared with those under the Uniform Commercial Code (U.C.C.), the cases discussed in this survey remind us that U.S. courts are comfortable in applying the CISG. A comprehensive survey setting forth legal developments in the United States during the past nine years involving the CISG follows the Uniform Commercial Code Survey in this issue of The Business Lawyer. That survey illustrates that the …

Penalty Clauses And The Cisg, Jack Graves

Scholarly Works

Commercial agreements often provide for “fixed sums” payable upon a specified breach. Such agreements are generally enforced in civil law jurisdictions. In contrast, the common law distinguishes between “liquidated damages” and “penalty” clauses, enforcing the former, while invalidating the latter as a penalty. The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) does not directly address the payment of “fixed sums” as damages, and the validity of “penalty” clauses has, traditionally, been relegated to otherwise applicable domestic national law under CISG Article 4. This traditional orthodoxy has recently been challenged—suggesting that the fate of a penalty clause …

Penalty Clauses And The Cisg, Jack Graves

Scholarly Works

Commercial agreements often provide for “fixed sums” payable upon a specified breach. Such agreements are generally enforced in civil law jurisdictions. In contrast, the common law distinguishes between “liquidated damages” and “penalty” clauses, enforcing the former, while invalidating the latter as a penalty. The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) does not directly address the payment of “fixed sums” as damages, and the validity of “penalty” clauses has, traditionally, been relegated to otherwise applicable domestic national law under CISG Article 4. This traditional orthodoxy has recently been challenged—suggesting that the fate of a penalty clause …

Comparative Efficiency In International Sales Law, Larry A. Dimatteo, Daniel Ostas

UF Law Faculty Publications

The article employs the method of the economic analysis of law (EAL) in a comparative context. In particular, it assesses the efficiency of select provisions of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The CISG is the law of the United States and over 70 other countries. It reflects a culmination of a century-old process of failed attempts to achieve an international sales law. The drafting process involved intense negotiation and compromise between representatives of the common and civil law legal traditions. As a result, the CISG provides in an interesting amalgam of civil …

Turkey's Accession To The Cisg: The Significance For Turkey And For Sales Transactions With U.S. Contracting Parties, William P. Johnson

All Faculty Scholarship

The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) entered into force for Turkey on August 1, 2011. This article considers the significance of Turkey’s accession to the CISG as part of Turkey’s continuing engagement with systems of international trade, especially as relates to sales transactions with U.S. contracting parties. This article urges the Turkish bar to recognize that the CISG is a viable alternative to various potentially applicable bodies of domestic sales law, and the article offers some guidance regarding proper understanding and application of the CISG. This article also offers comparative analysis of some …

Cisg Article 6 And Issues Of Formation: The Problem Of Circularity, Jack M. Graves

Scholarly Works

CISG Article 6 broadly allows parties to exclude the application of the CISG or derogate from its provisions. The application of Article 6 is relatively straightforward when addressing the rights and obligations of the parties, but encounters a challenge of circularity when addressing issues of contract formation. How can the parties agree to exclude or derogate from the application of the CISG if it is not yet clear whether they have agreed to anything at all? This article explores this narrow, but important question. Can the parties effectively exclude the application of the CISG or derogate from its provisions (i.e., …

International Sale Of Goods 2009, Gregory M. Duhl

Faculty Scholarship

This is a survey of key cases decided by U.S. courts in 2009 interpreting the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods ("CISG"). Courts interpreted the scope, formation, warranty, avoidance, and remedies provisions of the CISG.