Law Commons^™

The Road To Nowhere: Caterpillar V. Usinor And Cisg Claims By Downstream Buyers Against Remote Sellers, Donald J. Smythe

Donald J. Smythe

The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) was intended to unify international sales law and facilitate the expansion of international trade. It was, however, the product of a bargain between representatives from diverse legal systems and its rules are spare. This invites parties to international sales disputes to argue that its preemptive effect is narrow and that domestic legal rules should be used to fill the gaps. Courts are notoriously prone to the “homeward trend bias” and have frequently accepted such arguments. In Caterpillar v. Usinor the federal district court for the Northern District of …