International Sales Law: A Global Challenge

806 Pages·2014·8.02 MB·English

by  Larry A. DiMatteo

international sales law
AGlobalChallenge
This book brings together the top international sales law scholars from twenty-
threecountriestoreviewtheConventiononContractsforInternationalSaleof
Goods(CISG)anditsroleintheunificationofglobalsaleslawatpresentandinto
thefuture.Thebookcoversthreegeneralresearchmethodologies:(1)doctrinalor
descriptive,(2)theoretical,and(3)practical.Intheareaofdoctrinal–descriptive
analysis,thesubstanceofCISGrulesisreviewedandalternativeinterpretations
of those rules are analyzed. A comparative analysis is given of how numerous
countrieshaveaccepted,interpreted,andappliedtheCISG.Theoreticalinsights
areofferedintotheproblemsofuniformlaws,theCISG’sroleinbridgingthegap
betweenthecommon and civillegaltraditions,and the debateovertheproper
role of good faith in CISG jurisprudence. The practitioner perspective argues
thattheCISGshouldbeviewedasatoolforfurtheringtheinterestsofbusiness
clients.
Thebookincludesareviewofthecaselawrelatingtotheinterpretationand
application of the provisions of the CISG; analyzes how the CISG has been
recognized and implemented by national courts, as well as arbitral tribunals;
offersinsightsintotheproblemsofuniformityofapplicationofaninternational
sales convention; compares the CISG with the English Sale of Goods Act and
places the CISG in the context of other texts of UNCITRAL; and analyzes
the CISG from the practitioner’s perspective, including how to use the CISG
proactively.
LarryA.DiMatteoistheHuberHurstProfessorofContractLawandLegalStudies
at the Warrington College of Business Administration and Affiliate Professor at
the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida. He is the author or
editorofmorethanseventyscholarlypublicationsincludingInternationalSales
Law: A Critical Analysis of the CISG (2005) and Commercial Contract Law:
Transatlantic Perspectives (2013). Professor DiMatteo obtained his J.D. from
Cornell Law School, LL.M. from Harvard Law School, and Ph.D. in Business
andCommercialLawfromMonashUniversity.

International Sales Law
a global challenge
Editedby
Larry A. DiMatteo
WarringtonCollegeofBusinessAdministration,
UniversityofFlorida
32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,NY10013-2473,USA
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107020382
(cid:2)C CambridgeUniversityPress2014
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2014
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Internationalsaleslaw:aglobalchallenge/LarryA.DiMatteo,WarringtonCollegeofBusiness
Administration,UniversityofFlorida.
pagescm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-107-02038-2(hardback)
1.Exportsalescontracts. 2.UnitedNationsConventiononContractsfortheInternationalSaleof
Goods(1980) I.DiMatteo,LarryA.,editorofcompilation.
K1030.I585 2014
343.08ʹ7–dc23 2013030074
ISBN978-1-107-02038-2Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofURLsfor
externalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublicationanddoesnotguaranteethat
anycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
“FoundingFather”
JohnHonnold
(1916–2011)
“Theonlywaytocreateagenuineandeffectiveinternationallegalsystemistoexplore
andappreciatetheworld’sdiverseviewsonchallengingtopics.”
HarryFlechtner
“TheGreatScholar”
PeterSchlechtriem
(1933–2007)
“Nonetheless, you had the firm impression that he had rather preferred to sit in his
officeandwriteoneofhisbooksorarticles.”
UlrichMagnus
“TheGreatDisseminator”
AlKritzer
(1928–2010)
“Alpouredhisheartandhissoul,andhismoney,intobuildingsystemsandnetworks
whichenabledustoshareknowledgeandinsight.Now,withAlgone,itisuptousto
ensurethatweallcontinuetoshare.”
CamillaAndersen
“Society”ofScholars
InreferencingHonnold,Schlechtriem,andKritzer,HarryFlechtnernotesthat“Ihave
often thought that the spirit and personalities of these wonderful people formed a
distinctiveculturearoundtheCISGthatpartookoftheircharacter.Ihaveoftennoticed
what a remarkable group of scholars that have been attracted to the Convention as a
majorfocusoftheircareers–thinkerswhoarenotjustbrightandenergetic,buttruly
friendlyandother-centered.”

Brief Contents
1 GlobalChallengeofInternationalSalesLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page3
2 HistoryoftheCISGandItsPresentStatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3 TheCISG:DivergencesbetweenSuccess–ScarcityandTheory–Practice. . . . . . 23
4 CISGSourcesandResearchingtheCISG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5 ReducingLegalBabelism:CISGTranslationIssues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
6 TheCISGinNationalCourts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
7 InterpretiveMethodologiesintheInterpretationoftheCISG. . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
8 DivergentInterpretations:ReasonsandSolutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
9 GoodFaithPrinciple:VexataQuaestio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
10 TheCISGandInternationalArbitration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
11 TheCISGasSoftLawandChoiceofLaw:Go¯ju¯ Ryu¯? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
12 ContractFormationundertheCISG:TheNeedforaReform. . . . . . . . . . . . 179
13 TheCISGandtheBattleoftheForms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
14 ConformityofGoods:InspectionandNotice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
15 InterpretingFundamentalBreach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
16 Remedies:Damages,PriceReduction,Avoidance,Mitigation,
andPreservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
17 LitigationCostsasReimbursableDamages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
18 ExcuseofImpedimentandItsUsefulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
19 TheCISGinAustria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
20 BalticStates,Belarus,andUkraine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
21 FrenchPerspectiveoftheCISG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
vii
viii BriefContents
22 GermanCountryAnalysis:GoodFaith,Formation,
andConformityofGoods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
23 GermanCountryAnalysis:PartII . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
24 Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
25 TheNordicCountries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
26 TheCISGinSoutheasternEurope. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
27 Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
28 Switzerland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
29 TheNetherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
30 TheCISGinIslamicCountries:TheCaseofEgypt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
31 Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
32 NewZealand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
33 People’sRepublicofChina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
34 TheUnitedStatesandCanada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
35 CentralandSouthAmerica. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580
36 TheCISGacrossNationalLegalSystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588
37 ProblemsofUniformLaws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
38 TheCISGasBridgebetweenCommonandCivilLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
39 PrecontractualLiabilityandPreliminaryAgreements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
40 EmpiricalEvidenceofCourts’andCounsels’ApproachtotheCISG
(withSomeRemarksonProfessionalLiability) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649
41 TheCISGandEnglishSalesLaw:AnUnfairCompetition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669
42 TheCISGinContextofComplementaryTexts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
43 SoftLawsasModelsfortheImprovementoftheCISG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
44 UsingtheCISGProactively. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704
45 FutureChallengesofInternationalSalesLaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725