1. United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, U.N. Conference on Contract. for the International Sale of Goods, Final Act, U.N. Doc. A/CONF.97/18 (1980) [hereinafter "CISG" or "Convention"], reprinted in S. Treaty Doc. No. 9, 98th Cong., 1st Sess. and in 17 INT'L LEGAL MAT. 668 (1980). All footnotes in the following material were supplied by the author/translator, and did not appear in the original material.

2. The German term for the Court of Appeal is Oberlandesgericht [hereinafter referred to as "OLG"]. The OLG has exclusive jurisdiction over civil appeals from, inter alia judgments of the Landgericht. The OLG may, in some circumstances, act as a court of first instance. For a more complete account of German appellate procedure, see TIMOTHY KEARLY & WOLFRAM FISCHER, CHARLES SZLADITS' GUIDE TO FOREIGN LEGAL MATERIALS: GERMAN 16-29 (2 ed. 1990) [hereinafter SZLADITS].

3. This Journal of Law & Commerce case translation was prepared by Eva Diederichsen (Law studies at the University of Bielefeld, 1985-87 and the University of Freiburg, 1987-91; First State Examination, 1991, University of Freiburg; Second Statc Examination, 1994, Stuttgart). The author wishes to thank Professors Ronald Brand, Vivian Curran and Harry Flechtner of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law for their kind assistance in preparing these materials. Any reader who intends to rely on this case must consult the original text, a copy of which can be obtained from the Journal of Law & Commerce.

4. "International private law" is the translation for Internationales Privatrecht, the German legal term for rules of conflict of law.

5. The court here cites to a commentary on the law to support its position. ROLF HERBER & BEATE CZERWENKA, lNTERNATIONALES KAUFRECHT n.l6 (1991).

6. "Rn." is the abbreviation for Randnummer -- i.e. marginal note.

7. KOMMENTAR ZUM EINHEITLICHEN UN-KAUFRECHT-CISG, Article 46, Rn. 64; Article 49, Rn. 27 (Ernst von Caemmer [sic] & Peter Schlechtriem eds., 1990) [hereinafter VON CAEMMERER & SCHLECHTRIEM].

8. PILTZ, INTERNATIONALES KAUFRECHT, § 5. Rn. 247 (1993).

9. I.e., because of the insufficiency of its allegations, the defendant failed to meet the statutory requirement for avoidance of the contract.

10. A paragraph dealing in depth with the nature of the defects is omitted.

11. The original German wording here is "der Senat," which refers to a certain division or panel of the court.

12. Another paragraph dealing in depth with the nature of the defects in the goods is omitted.

13. PILTZ, supra note 8, at § 4, Rn. 124.

14. VON CAEMMERER & SCHLECHTRIEM, supra note 7, at Article 78, Rnn. 9 & 10.

15. HERBER & CZERWENKA, supra note 5, at Article 78, Rn. 3.

16. Herbert Asam, UN-Kaufrechtsübereinkommen im deutsch-italienischen Rechtsverkehr, RIW, 942, 945 (1989). "RIW" is the abbreviation for Recht der Internationalen Wirtschaft [Law of International Commerce], a monthly journal on international trade law and practice.

17. "EKG" is the abbreviation for Einheitliches Gesetz über den internationalen Kauf beweglicher Sachen vom 17. Juli 1973 [Uniform Law on International Sale of Goods of July 17, 1973]. This was the German Law which implemented the 1964 Hague Convention on the International Sale of Goods into German national law. The EKG ceased to be in force on December 13, 1990 when the CISG went into force and, pursuant to Article 99 of CISG, Germany denounced the 1964 Hague Convention.

18. The opinion refers here to a ruling of the court of June 13, 1991, filing number 5 U 261/ 90. "NJW" is the abbreviation for Neue Juristische Wochenschrift [New Weekly Law Journal], a law journal covering all fields of law. It contains mainly court rulings and commentaries by lawyers and scholars. For the meaning of "Senat," see supra note 11.

19. "EGBGB" is the abbreviation for Einführungsgesetz zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuch [Introductory Law on the Civil Code]. This introductory section to the civil code contains tbe German rules on conflict of laws. See Szladits, supra note 2, at 65-66.

20. VON CAEMMERER & SCHLECHTRIEM, supra note 7, at Article 84, Rn. 13.

21. A translation of selected passages from this case appears in the Appendix infra (Case VIII).

22. A German court only has to discuss a deviating scholarly opinion if the discrepancy would have an impact on the outcome of the case.

23. "HGB" is the abbreviation for Handelsgesetzbuch [Code of Commercial Law].

24. In Germany, statutory interest is not classified as damages.

25. HERBER & CZERWENKA, supra note 5, at Article 78, Rn. 1.

26. PILTZ, supra note 8, at § 5. Rn. 415.

27. The Codice Civile is the Italian civil code.

28. PILTZ, supra note 8, at § 5, Rn. 415.

29. Kindler, Zur Anhebung des Gesetzlichen Zinssatzes in Italien, RIW, 304 (1991).

30. HERBER & CZEWENKA, [sic] supra note 5, at Article 78, Rn. 8

31. Von Caemmerer & Schlechtriem, supra note 7, at Article 74, Rn 41.