Do Courts Interpret the CISG Uniformly?
Files
Description
It is common knowledge that in order to create legal uniformity it is insufficient to merely create and enact uniform instruments, because "even when outward uniformity is achieved[ ... ], uniform application of the agreed rules is by no means guaranteed, as in practice different countries almost inevitably come to put different interpretations upon the same enacted words." In order to reduce this danger of diverging interpretations by courts of different countries, the drafters of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, hereinafter CISG, included, like the drafters of other uniform law conventions, a well known provision, Article 7(1), by virtue of which in interpreting the CISG "regard is to be had to its international character and to the need to promote uniformity in its application." As many commentators have pointed out, this means that one should not read the Convention through the lenses of domestic law, but rather in an "autonomous" manner. In other words, in interpreting the CISG one should not resort to the meaning generally attached to certain expressions within the ambit of a particular legal system. However, it has often been stated in legal writing that in view of "the need to promote uniformity in [the CISG's] application", it is insufficient to consider the CISG an autonomous body of rules. In order to achieve the CISG's ultimate goal, the creation of uniform· ity, it is also necessary to consider the practice of other jurisdictions, i.e., "what others have already done." This is why it cannot surprise that many commentators have advocated that courts resort to decisions rendered by foreign judicial bodies. The purpose of this paper, however, is not to give an account of the discussions that can be found in legal writing regarding Article 7(1) CISG; rather, this paper wants to examine whether courts take into account the aforementioned mandates set forth in Article 7(1) CISG, i.e. whether they, too, have "regard to the CISG's international character and to the need to promote uniformity in its application."
Source Publication
Quo Vadis CISG?: Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods
Source Editors/Authors
Franco Ferrari
Publication Date
2005
Recommended Citation
Ferrari, Franco, "Do Courts Interpret the CISG Uniformly?" (2005). Faculty Chapters. 588.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/588
