ANNOTATED TEXT OF CISG
Article 7

(2) Questions concerning matters governed by this Convention which are not expressly settled in it are to be settled in conformity with the general principles on which it is based or, in the absence of such principles, in conformity with the law applicable by virtue of the rules of private international law.

Legislative history || Case law || Scholarly writings || Links to related articles || Words and phrases || CISG (full-text)

Guide to this article

• UNCITRAL outline of issues present
• Editorial analysis of this article with cross-references to related subjects, Robert A. Hillman [U.S.]
  
• Secretariat Commentary (closest counterpart to an Official Commentary on this article)
  • Match-up of this article with the 1978 draft
  (to validate Secretariat Commentary)
• Use of the UNIDROIT Principles to help interpret CISG Article 7
• Editorial analysis: Ulrich Magnus [Germany]
• Use of the Principles of European Contract Law to help interpret CISG article 7
  • Editorial analysis: John Felemegas [Australia]
  • Match-ups with Continental and Common Law domestic rules, doctrine and jurisprudence
• Use of the Proposed Common European Sales Law to help interpret CISG article 7
• Article 7 compared to approach taken in 1955 Hague Convention and 1980 Rome Convention
• For another comparative, go to
  • Comparison of CISG remedies with Latin American legal traditions
• Related lex mercatoria material

• Roadmap to the legislative history of this article
• Legislative history of this article: long form
• Legislative history of this article: short form
  • Chronology of development of Article 7 at the 1980 Vienna Diplomatic Conference
  • Tensions that led to the manner in which good faith is referred to in Article 7(1)
• Summary of UNCITRAL legislative history
• Hague Convention antecedents
  • Article 7 match-up with ULIS (with illustrative citations to helpful ULIS case law)
  • ULIS (full-text) and André Tunc Commentary on ULIS
  • ULF (full-text)
  • See also the Report of the Special U.S. Committee, dated 1 December 1964,
    explaining why the United States elected not to adopt either ULIS or ULF

Case law

• CASES INVOLVING CISG ARTICLE 7
  • Computer list of annotated cases

• For a companion report on CISG case law and other material, go to Unilex: click for description of and link to this excellent service

• See also:
  • UNCITRAL digest

  • UNCITRAL digest + added cases
  • Camilla Baasch Andersen, Practical Jurisconsultorium Cases by Country (16 April 2010)

  • See case on International character United States 21 July 2010 Federal Appellate Court [3rd Circuit] (Forestal Guarani S.A. v. Daros International, Inc.)

Scholarly writings on this article

The cisgw3 bibliography contains over 8,000 citations. It is therefore likely that, in addition to case law, you will find scholarly literature - often a wealth of such literature - on virtually every aspect of the CISG you research.

• Selected monographs and anthologies
• Comments on Article 7 by Gyula Eörsi [Hungary] at 1984 Parker School seminar of the American Association for the Comparative Study of Law: Ch. 2, pp. 3-12
• Comments on Article 7 from seminal 1986 text by Peter Schlechtriem [Germany]

• Comments on Article 7 from monograph by Jacob S. Ziegel [Canada]

• Comments on Article 7 by Michael Joachim Bonell [Italy] in 1987 Bianca-Bonell Commentary on the International Sales Law
• Comments on Article 7 by John O. Honnold [U.S.] in the 3rd ed. (1999) of the most frequently cited text on the CISG: Uniform Law for International Sales

• Comments on Article 7 in December 2000 text by Joseph Lookofsky [Denmark / U.S.]
• February 2001 thesis on Article 7 by John Felemegas [Australia]

• Commentarios al Articulo 7 sobre textos de 2001 por Pilar Perales [España]

• May 2003 thesis on "four corners methodology" by Bruno Zeller [Australia]

• See also the helpful Enderlein & Maskow text (cited below under the words and phrases section of this Annotated Text material)

• Peter Huber [Germany], excerpt from Some Introductory Remarks on the CISG, Internationales Handelsrecht (December 2006) 229-230, 234-235
• Citations to materials on this article in other texts (selected texts only)
• Selected law journal articles and other commentaries

• Gary F. Bell [Canada], Good Faith, the Incoterms and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), presentation at UNCITRAL -- SIAC Seminar on Celebrating Success: 25 Years United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, Singapore (22 September 2005) 15 p.

• Petra Butler, The Use of the CISG in Domestic Law, [papers from Uniform Sales Law: the CISG at its 30th Anniversary, a conference in memory of Albert H. Kritzer, 12-13 November 2010, Belgrade] The Annals of the Faculty of Law in Belgrade - Belgrade Law Review, Year LIX (2011) no. 3 pp. 7-27

• Gyula Eörsi [Hungary], excerpt from 27 American Journal of Comparative Law (1979) 311-323
• E. Allan Farnsworth [U.S.], Duties of Good Faith and Fair Dealing under the UNIDROIT Principles, Relevant International Conventions and National Laws, 3 Tulane Journal of International and Comparative Law (1995) 47-63 [available on the Internet courtesy of CENTRAL Transnational Law Database (TLDB)]
• Harry Flechtner [U.S.], Comparing the General Good Faith Provisions of the PECL and the UCC: Appearance and Reality, 13 Pace International Law Review (2001) 295-337 [Relevant to the CISG in the following respect: When comparing the literal language of specific references to good faith in the PECL, UCC and CISG with respect to performance or enforcement of obligations (the sole subject of the specific reference to good faith in the sales provisions of the UCC), the spectrum is: strongest specific reference: PECL (Art. 1:201); less strong specific reference: UCC (§ 1-203); and of these three, the least strong specific reference to good faith is CISG (Art. 7)]

• Leclerc Ginette, La Bonne Foi dans l'Execution des Contrats [Good faith in the execution of contracts - in French], McGill Law Journal (1992) 1070-1086 [available on the Internet courtesy of CENTRAL Transnational Law Database (TLDB)]
• Willi E. Joachim, The "Reasonable Man" in United States and German Commercial Law, 15 Comparative Law Yearbook of International Business (1992) 341-360 [available on the Internet courtesy of CENTRAL Transnational Law Database (TLDB)]
• Peter Jones, Reasonableness, Honesty and Good Faith, International Sales Quarterly (March 1995) 8-10 [available on the Internet courtesy of CENTRAL Transnational Law Database (TLDB)]
• Troy Keily [Australia], Good Faith and the Vienna Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, thesis: Deakin (1999) Pace essay submission = 3 Vindobona Journal of International Law and Arbitration, Issue 1 (1999) 15-40

• John Klein [U.S.], Good Faith in International Transactions, 15 Liverpool Law Review (1993) 115-141.

• Pierre Mayer, Le principe de Bonne Foi devant les Arbitres du Commerce International [The principle of good faith before international commercial arbitrators - in French], in: Fewstschrift Pierre Lalive, Basel / Frankfurt (1993) 543-556 [available on the Internet courtesy of CENTRAL Transnational Law Database (TLDB)]
• Pilar Perales Viscasillas [Spain], Una aproximación al Articulo 7 de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas sobre los contratos de compraventa mercantil internacional [Spanish text], 16 Cuadernos de Derecho y Comercio (Spain 1995) 55-88 [Article 7: good faith as a principle of interpretation and behavior of the parties during the formation of the contract; in the context of article 16(2)(a) [Irrevocability of the offer]; and in the case of death or incapacity of one of the parties during the formation of the contract (discussion as to whether this is an issue that lies inside or outside the scope of the CISG)]

• Paul J. Powers [U.S.], Defining the Indefinable: Good Faith and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, 18 Journal of Law and Commerce (1999) 333-353

• Peter Schlechtriem [Germany], Good faith in German Law and in International Uniform Laws, in: Centro di studi e ricerche di diritto comparato e straniero - diretto da M. J. Bonell, Saggi, Conferenze e Seminari No. 24 (February 1997) 21 p.

• Disa Sim [Singapore], The Scope and Application of Good Faith in the Vienna Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (September 2001)

• Hans Jürgen Sonnenberger, Treu und Glauben – ein supranationaler Grundsatz? [Good faith – a supranational principle? - in German], in: Festschrift Odersky, Berlin (1996) 703-721 [available on the Internet courtesy of CENTRAL Transnational Law Database (TLDB)]
• Michael P. van Alstine, Of Textualism, Party Autonomy, and Good Faith, 40 William & Mary Law Review (1999) 1222-1312 [Written entirely in the context of the UCC and U.S. common law experience. Discusses and criticizes what the author characterizes as a growing U.S. trend: "the textual approach to good faith", an approach used to restrict the use of good faith as a device to change the parties' bargain. Cf. the CISG, not discussed in this commentary, whose reference to good faith is less explicit than that of the UCC. Commentary also discusses party autonomy (bargaining around good faith requirements). It is the author's thesis that "the doctrine of good faith . . . impose[s] a heightened burden of expression for bargaining around its strictures with respect to discretionary contractual powers." Cf. Vienna Diplomatic Conference colloquy on bargaining away good faith requirements.]

  [See also Ferrari, Komarov, Koneru, Povrzenic texts cited below] [For evidence of judicial recognition of good faith as a general principle of the CISG's antecedent, ULIS, even though that convention contains no express reference to good faith, see OLG Düsseldorf (6 U 206/77) 20 January 1983, reprinted in Schlechtriem/Magnus eds. Internationale Rechtsprechung zu EKG und EAG, art. 17, No. 7 at 186]

Civil law reasoning vs. common law reasoning

• Wayne R. Barnes [U.S.], Contemplating a Civil Law Paradigm for a Future International Commercial Code, 65 Louisiana Law Review (Winter 2005) 677-774

Gap-filling by analogy/general principles

• Camilla Baasch Andersen [Denmark], General Principles of the CISG, in: Camilla B. Andersen / Ulrich G. Schroeter eds., Sharing International Law across National Boundaries: Festschrift for Albert H. Kritzer on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday, Wildy, Simmonds & Hill Publishing (2008) 13-33
• Michael Joachim Bonell [Italy], Towards a Legislative Codification of the UNIDROIT Principles?, in: Camilla B. Andersen / Ulrich G. Schroeter eds., Sharing International Commercial Law across National Boundaries: Festschrift for Albert H. Kritzer on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday, Wildy, Simmonds & Hill Publishing (March 2008) 62-76

• Michael G. Bridge [United Kingdom], Uniform and Harmonized Sales Law: Choice of Law Issues, in: James J. Fawcett, Jonathan M. Harris & Michael Bridge, International Sale of Goods in the Conflict of Laws, Oxford University Press (2005) 908-988 [See §§ 16.42-16.60]
• Bin Cheng, General Principles of Law as Applied by International Courts and Tribunals, reprinted Cambridge (1987) [available on the Internet courtesy of CENTRAL Transnational Law Database (TLDB)]
• Josef Esser [Germany], Grundsatz und Norm in der richterlichen Fortbildung des Privatrechts [Principles and norms in the development of private law - in German], 4th ed., Tübingen (1990) [excerpt available on the Internet courtesy of CENTRAL Transnational Law Database (TLDG)]
• Franco Ferrari [Italy], Das Verhältnis zwischen den UNIDROIT-Grundsätzen und den allgemeinen Grundsätzen internationaler Einheitsprivatrechtkinvention. Zugleich ein Beitrag zur Lückenfüllung durch staatliche Gerichte [The Relationship between the UNIDROIT Principles and the General Principles of International Conventions Unifying Private Law - in German], 53 Juristen Zeitung (1998) 9-17 [available on the Internet courtesy of CENTRAL Transnational Law Database (TLDB)]
• Martin Gebauer [Germany], Uniform Law, General Principles and Autonomous Interpretation, Uniform Law Review (2000-4) 683-705
• Jan Hellner [Sweden], The Law of Sales and the Law of Contract: Some Remarks on the United Nations Convention on International Sales, Julskrift (2000) 173-185 [Remarks on resort to general principles of the CISG vs. resort to domestic law]

• Jan Hellner [Sweden], Gap-Filling by Analogy: Article 7 of the UN Sales Convention in its Historical Context, in: Studies in International Law: Festkrift til Lars Hjerner, Ramberg ed. (Norstedts: Stockholm (1990) 219-233
• Shael Herman, Quot judices tot sententiae: A study of the English reaction to continental interpretive techniques, 1 Legal Studies (1981) 165-189

• Phanesh Koneru, [India and the United States], The International Interpretation of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods: An Approach Based on General Principles, 6 Minnesota Journal of Global Trade (1997) 105-152

• Ole Lando, CISG and Its Followers: A Proposal to Adopt Some International Principles of Contract Law, 35 American Journal of Comparative Law (Spring 2006) 379-401

• Ulrich Magnus [Germany], Die allegemeinen Grundsätze im UN-Kaufrecht [General Principles under the UN Sales Convention: English translation], 3 International Trade and Business Law Annual (Australia 1997) 33-56

• Henry Mather [U.S.], Choice of Law for International Sales Issues Not Resolved by the CISG, 20 Journal of Law and Commerce (Spring 2001) 155-208
• Nickles, Problems of Sources of Law Under the UCC, 31 Arkansas Law Review (1980) at 16-46; 31 id. 171 and 34 id. 1 (1980) [perspective study of the conflicting "civil law" and "common law" approaches]

• Gert Brandner [Germany], Admissibility of Analogy in Gap-filling under the CISG (1999)

• Nives Povrzenic [Croatia], Interpretation and Gap-filling under the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (1997 Pace essay)

• Max Rheinstein, Review of Josef Esser, Grundsatz und Norm in der rechterlichen Fortbildung des Privatrechts: rechtsvergleichende Beiträge zur Rechtsquellen- und Interpretationslehre [Principle and Norm in the Judicial Development of Private Law: A Comparative Inquiry into the Problems of the Sources of Law and their Interpretation], J.C.B. Moher (Paul Siebeck), 1956, 394 p., in: 24 University of Chicago Law Review (1957) 597-606 [Illustrative excerpt illustrates relevance to Article 7(2) CISG: "A promisor will thus be held to be bound not only to what he has promised expressly but also to numerous 'auxiliary duties' of protecting the interest of the obligee. The latter in turn has been held to be bound to exercise his rights so as not unnecessarily to burden the obligor."]

• Mark N. Rosenberg [Australia], The Vienna Convention: Uniformity in Interpretation for Gap-filling -- An Analysis and Application, 20 Australian Business Law Review (1992) 442-460

• Peter Schlechtriem [Germany], Requirements of Application and Sphere of Applicability of the CISG, Victoria University of Wellington Law Review (2005/4) 781-794

• Evelien Visser [Netherlands], Gaps in the CISG: In General and with Specific Emphasis on the interpretation of the Remedial Provisions of the Convention in the Light of the General Provisions of the CISG, LL.M. Thesis, University of Georgia School of Law (June 1998)

  [See also Van Alstine, Felemegas, Ferrari, Hillman, Kastely texts cited below]

International character of the Convention: Uniformity of interpretation

• Michael P. Van Alstine, Dynamic Treaty Interpretation, 146 University of Pennsylvania Law Review (1998) 687-793

• Camilla Baasch Andersen [Denmark], Furthering the Uniform Application of the CISG: Sources of Law on the Internet, 10 Pace International Law Review (1998) 403-410

• Camilla Baasch Andersen [Denmark], The Uniform International Sales Law and the Global Jurisconsultorium, 24 Journal of Law and Commerce (2005) 159-179

• Camilla Baasch Andersen, Francesco Mazzotta & Bruno Zeller, The Nature of CISG Case Law: The Key to Uniformity and Many Persuasive Examples for Counsel to Draw from, in: Introduction to Andersen / Mazzotta / Zeller, A Practitioner’s Guide to the CISG, Juris Publishing (May 2010)

• Bernard Audit [France], The Vienna Sales Convention and the Lex Mercatoria, in: Thomas E. Carbonneau ed., Lex Mercatoria and Arbitration (Transnational Juris Publications 1990) 139-160 and rev. ed. (Juris Publishing 1998) 173-194

• Spiros V. Bazinas, Uniformity in the Interpretation and the Application of the CISG: The Role of CLOUT and the Digest, presentation at Singapore International Arbitration Centre and UNCITRAL seminar on Celebrating Success: 25 Years United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods, Singapore (22-23 September 2005)

• Edgar Bodenheimer [United States], Doctrine as a Source of the International Unification of Law, 34 American Journal of Comparative Law (1986) 67-79

• Chan Leng Sun [Singapore], Interpreting an International Sale Contract, presentation at UNCITRAL -- SIAC Seminar on Celebrating Success: 25 Years United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, Singapore (22 September 2005) 16 p.

• V. Susanne Cook [U.S.], The Need for Uniform Interpretation of the 1980 United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, 50 University of Pittsburgh Law Review (1988) 197-226

• Frank Diedrich [Germany], Maintaining Uniformity in International Uniform Law via Autonomous Interpretation: Software Contracts and the CISG, 8 Pace International Law Review (1996) 303-338 (1996 Pace essay)

• John Felemegas [Australia], Introduction, in: John Felemegas ed., An International Approach to the Interpretation of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, Cambridge University Press (2007) 1-38

• Franco Ferrari [Italy], Tribunale di Vigevano: Specific Aspects of the CISG Uniformly Dealt With, 20 Journal of Law and Commerce (Spring 2001) 225-239 [Autonomous interpretation of the CISG / Interpreting the CISG in light of foreign case law: 225-232]
• Franco Ferrari [Italy], Uniform Interpretation of the 1980 Uniform Sales Law, 24 Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law (1994) 183-228

• Franco Ferrari [Italy], Have the Dragons of Uniform Sales Law Been Tamed? Ruminations on the CISG's Autonomous Interpretations by Courts, in: Camilla B. Andersen / Ulrich G. Schroeter eds., Sharing International Commercial Law across National Boundaries: Festschrift for Albert H. Kritzer on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday, Wildy, Simmonds & Hill Publishing (March 2008) 134-167

• Harry M. Flechtner [U.S.], The Several Texts of the CISG in a Decentralized System: Observations on Translations, Reservations and other Challenges to the Uniformity Principle in Article 7(1), 17 Journal of Law and Commerce (1998) 187-217

• Philip Hackney [U.S.], Is the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods Achieving Uniformity?, 61 Louisiana Law Review (Winter 2001) 473-486

• Robert A. Hillman [U.S.], Applying the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods: The Elusive Goal of Uniformity, Cornell Review of the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (1995) 21-49

• John O. Honnold [U.S], General Report [summarizing 16 national reports on interpretation of the Convention presented at the Twelfth International Congress of Comparative Law (Australia 1986)], reproduced in substance in Peter Schlechtriem ed., "Einheitliches Kaufrecht und nationales Obligationenrecht, Fachtagung Einheitliches Kaufrecht der Gesellschaft für Rechtsvergleichung" (Baden-Baden: Nomos 1987) 115-147

• Alexander S. Komarov [Russian Federation], Internationality, Uniformity and Observance of Good Faith as Criteria in Interpretation of CISG: Some Remarks on Article 7(1), 25 Journal of Law and Commerce (2005-06) 75-85

• Amy H. Kastely [U.S], Unification and Community: A Rhetorical Analysis of the United Nations Sales Convention, 8 Northwestern Journal of International Law and Business 574-622

• Kai Krüger [Norway], Financial force majeure: The extent of efforts which the seller must take to overcome impediments for performance in contracts for the sale of goods under Scandinavian law - remarks on the impact of CISG Art 79 [source: "Rättsvetenskapliga studier till minnet av tore Almén" pp 239-273, Iustus Fölag, Stockholm (1999) © Kai Krüger. A review of the common law historical approach, the continental position and the Scandinavian approach in the context of CISG art. 79 construed also under the lens of CISG art. 7(1)]

• Joseph Lookofsky [U.S. / Denmark], International interpretation under Article 7(1), in: 13 Duke Journal of Comparative Law (2003) 266-271

• Joseph Lookofsky [U.S. / Denmark], Digesting CISG Case Law: How Much Regard Should We Have?, 8 Vindobona Journal of International Commercial Law and Arbitration (2004) 181-195
• Francis A. Mann [United Kingdom], The Interpretation of Uniform Statutes, 62 Law Quarterly Review (1946) 278-291
• Francis A. Mann [United Kingdom], Uniform Statutes in English Law, Law Quarterly Review (1983) 376-406
• Francesco G. Mazzotta [Italy], The International Character of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods: An Italian Case Example (June 2003)
• Trevor Perea, Treibacher Industrie, A.G. v. Allegheny Technologies, Inc.: A Perspective on the Lackluster Implementation of the CISG by American Courts, 20 Pace International Law Review (Spring 2008) 191-213
• László Réczei [Hungary], The Rules of the Convention Relating to Its Field of Application and to Its Interpretation, 1979 Potsdam Colloquium (Oceana 1980): Section XV. Interpretation

• Peter Schlechtriem [Germany], From the Hague to Vienna: Progress in Unification of the Law of International Sales Contracts?, in: Horn & Schmitthoff ed., The Transnational Law of International Commercial Transactions: Studies in Transnational Economic Law, Deventer: Kluwer Law and Taxation, Vol. 2 (1982) 125-135

• Leif Sevón [Finland], Method of Unification of Law for the International Sale of Goods, National Report: Finland (Topic I.C.1), 12th Congress, International Academy of Comparative Law, Sydney/Melbourne (18.-26 August 1986), in: Burre-Hägglund ed., The Finnish National Reports to the Twelfth Congress, Helsinki: Inst. Jurisprudentiae Comparativae Univ. Helsingiensis (1986) 11-26

• Sundburg, Uniform Interpretation of Uniform Law, 10 Scandinavian Studies 219 et seq.

• Bruno Zeller [Australia], The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) - a leap forward towards unified international sales laws, Pace essay (1 May 2000) [commentary on Article 7, a general rule of interpretation]

• Bruno Zeller [Australia], excerpt from The CISG - Getting off the Fence, 74(9) The Law Institute Journal, Victoria (2000) 73-74

  [See also Gebauer, Koneru, Povrzenic texts cited above]

To identify still other commentaries that bear on Article 7, go to the cisgw3 Bibliography and Bibliography Search Form [gap [filling], general provisions, general principles, good faith, interpretation and uniformity are search entries you may wish to consider]

Bibliography citations on gap [filling]

Citations on general provisions

Citations on general principles

Citations on good faith

Citations on interpretation

Citations on uniformity

We also encourage you to tailor your own cisgw3 bibliography search to the specific aspect of this article that you are researching.*

* The cisgw3 bibliography contains over 500 pages of citations. Analyzing these listings can pay dividends.

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Links to related articles

• Every part of the Convention links to this provision; Article 7 provides guidance on the interpretation of each provision of the CISG; go to Table of Contents to Annotated Text of CISG

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Words, phrases and concepts

• The Enderlein & Maskow text is a good place to commence words and phrases research. Click for their analysis of words, phrases and concepts in this article.

  See also:

• Regard for the Convention's "international character and to the need to promote uniformity in its application and the observation of good faith in international trade" (7(1)). For related words and phrases, go to Annotated Text of Preamble. For comments on the use of the Preamble to inform provisions of the CISG, go to Amy H. Kastely, Unification and Community: A Rhetorical Analysis of the United Nations Sales Convention, 8 Northwestern Journal of International Law and Business (1988) 574-622.

• "rules of private international law" (7(2)). For another use of this phrase, go to Annotated Text of Article 1 (1(1)(b)) [Basic rules of applicability]

• "good faith". Go to Diplomatic Conference colloquies that evidence lack of consensus as to meaning of the Article 7(1) reference to "good faith"

  For another point of view, see Hellner: "[A]pplication of the basic idea of Article 7(1) … that solutions should be sought that promote the observance of 'good faith in international trade' [ought to] tak[e] into account general principles that can be assumed to be known to those who are engaged in international trade." For example, in an article authored for an English publication, he states "In this way, British law may be relevant because of its well-known importance for international trade, regardless of the fact that the United Kingdom has not ratified CISG." Jan Hellner, The Law of Sales and the Law of Contract: Some Remarks on the United Nations Convention on International Sales, in: Rose ed., Lex Mercatoria: Essays on International Commercial Law in Honour of Francis Reynolds, London: LLP (2000) 185.

• applying the CISG to situations not specifically addressed by the legislators, e.g., new developments, where the CISG likely would have been applied to them had the legislators considered the developments. See Siegfried Eiselen [South Africa], Electronic Commerce and the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), 6 EDI Law Review (1999) 21-46 for an illustration of this concept [the illustration pertains to the impact of electronic communications upon various articles of the CISG]

• reasonableness: Although not specifically mentioned in this article, reasonableness is a general principle of the CISG
  • For the definition of reasonableness recited in the Principles of European Contract Law and references to reasonableness in Continental and Common Law domestic rules, doctrine and jurisprudence, go to PECL article 1:302 and the comment and notes prepared for this provision

  • To drive home the correlation between the PECL's definition of reasonableness and the evident same meaning of this term to CISG legislators when they used the concept either specifically or as a general principle of the uniform law they drafted, see overview comments and comments that illustrate the similar manner in which this concept fits the CISG

For a Doctoral thesis on "Reasonableness" in International Commercial Law, go to Guillaume Weiszberg, Le "Raisonnable" en Droit du Commerce International [pour le doctorat en droit de l’Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II), 7 novembre 2003]; see also Larry A. DiMatteo, "The Counterpoise of Contract: The Reasonable Person Standard and the Subjectivity of Judgment", 48 South Carolina Law Review (1997) 293-355

• "general principles". Go to commentary on illustrative applications of the Article 7(2) phrase "general principles". For an interesting point of view, see also Boyyson who holds that "General principles can only mean the general principles of the international lex mercatoria; a fact which emphasizes the close link between the CISG and the international lex mercatoria." Hercules Boyysen, International Transactions and the International Law Merchant, Pretoria (1995) 199.

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Pace Law School Institute of International Commercial Law - Last updated January 4, 2012

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Comments/Contributions
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