Understanding the Uniformity of the International Sales Law

The 1980 United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) is perhaps the most widely-used standard in the area of international sales law. Yet commercial lawyers often struggle to understand its uniformity across different legal systems, and as a result often fail to apply the Convention to its full potential. Here at last is a clear, focused exposition of CISG cases and scholarship, highlighting what has been done and what can be done with this remarkable and versatile legal instrument. With in-depth analysis of CISG case law and scholarship reflecting a variety of legal systems—as well as detailed commentary on the text of the Convention itself—the author demonstrates the considerable value of the global use of CISG precedents. Among the many factors she analyses are the following:

• the idea of the “jurisconsultorium” as the heart of a new discipline of uniform law;

• interpretational challenges;

• parallels of precedents between the UCC and the CISG;

• availability and weighting of precedent sources;

• congruency issues in the scholarly jurisconsultorium;

• multilingual issues;

• undue influence of domestic law; and

• legal classification of various types of “goods.”

The book concludes with a careful study of CISG case law in the significant areas of examination and notification, provisions of crucial importance in disputes involving allegation of defective goods. All commercial lawyers, judges, and arbitrators, regardless of their legal training and the legal system of their origin, are bound to benefit from the wider base of judgements to which the idea of the jurisconsultorium leads. Judges and arbitrators in particular will find in this book greatly enhanced guidance enabling them to make and support difficult decisions.