LEGAL ISSUE
World Trade Organisation (WTO) figures for 2008 indicate that worldwide merchandise export trade amounted to just over AU$18 billion and the import trade to AU$18.5 billion. These figures are roughly 100 times more than 45 years ago (Global Sales and Contract Law, 2012). At the dawn of the 21st century when commerce is more integrated than ever before and jurisdictions are attempting to make themselves more commercially flexible, exercises aimed at rendering the common law less opaque and creating a common legal grammar, if not a common substantive law, should not be unduly discarded. So why has Australia taken such a ‘piecemeal’ approach to the application of this evolving transnational legal architecture? This commentary notes …show more content…
It’s noteworthy to mention that Japan and Korea have recently consolidated their role in elaborating the law of commercial sales transactions, and have entered into the CISG community. Furthermore, China has reformed its domestic sales law to reflect many provisions of the CISG. And as Australia is a signatory to the CISG, meaning that this document is already embedded in the Australian legislative landscape, it has a similar aspiration of creating a ‘bridge’ to the civil law world.
Unfortunately, If the CISG is chosen as the applicable law, the legal practitioner has to rely on another national law to compensate for the few key issues that are not covered by the Convention. Additionally, there is little familiarity between the CISG and the legal profession. Only 22 cases have opted for the application of the CISG following the adoption of the instrument in 1989. (Australia 's Proposed Exercise in Contract Law Reform, 2013)
CONFLICTING …show more content…
However, it also draws the need for a uniform interpretation of its text in the different jurisdictions where it is enacted. It should be recalled that article 7 (1) of the Convention sets a uniform standard for interpretation of its provisions by stating: “In the interpretation of this Convention, regard is to be had to its international character and to the need to promote uniformity in its application [...]”. This provision benefits greatly from the availability of judicial decisions and arbitral tribunals, most notably on conventions and model laws, in the CLOUT database. (Digest of Case Law on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods,
World Trade Organisation (WTO) figures for 2008 indicate that worldwide merchandise export trade amounted to just over AU$18 billion and the import trade to AU$18.5 billion. These figures are roughly 100 times more than 45 years ago (Global Sales and Contract Law, 2012). At the dawn of the 21st century when commerce is more integrated than ever before and jurisdictions are attempting to make themselves more commercially flexible, exercises aimed at rendering the common law less opaque and creating a common legal grammar, if not a common substantive law, should not be unduly discarded. So why has Australia taken such a ‘piecemeal’ approach to the application of this evolving transnational legal architecture? This commentary notes …show more content…
It’s noteworthy to mention that Japan and Korea have recently consolidated their role in elaborating the law of commercial sales transactions, and have entered into the CISG community. Furthermore, China has reformed its domestic sales law to reflect many provisions of the CISG. And as Australia is a signatory to the CISG, meaning that this document is already embedded in the Australian legislative landscape, it has a similar aspiration of creating a ‘bridge’ to the civil law world.
Unfortunately, If the CISG is chosen as the applicable law, the legal practitioner has to rely on another national law to compensate for the few key issues that are not covered by the Convention. Additionally, there is little familiarity between the CISG and the legal profession. Only 22 cases have opted for the application of the CISG following the adoption of the instrument in 1989. (Australia 's Proposed Exercise in Contract Law Reform, 2013)
CONFLICTING …show more content…
However, it also draws the need for a uniform interpretation of its text in the different jurisdictions where it is enacted. It should be recalled that article 7 (1) of the Convention sets a uniform standard for interpretation of its provisions by stating: “In the interpretation of this Convention, regard is to be had to its international character and to the need to promote uniformity in its application [...]”. This provision benefits greatly from the availability of judicial decisions and arbitral tribunals, most notably on conventions and model laws, in the CLOUT database. (Digest of Case Law on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods,