Contractual Certainty In International Trade

Global business interacts efficiently despite the heterogeneity of social, economic and legal cultures which, according to widespread assumptions, cause insecurities and uncertainties. Breaches of contracts may occur more frequently and business relationships may be terminated more often in international than in domestic trade. But most business people engaged in exporting or importing products or services seem to operate in a sufficiently predictable environment allowing successful ventures into the global market. The apparent paradox presented by cultural/institutional diversity and contractual efficiency in cross-border business transactions is the focus of this volume of essays. The wide range of approaches adopted by contributors to the volume include: the Weberian concept of law as a tool for avoiding the risk of opportunism; economic sociology, which treats networks and relationships between contractual parties as paramount; representatives of new institutional economics who discuss law as well as private governance institutions as most efficient responses to risk; comparative economic sociologists who point to the varieties of legal cultures in the social organisation of trust; and national and international institutions such as the World Bank which try to promote legal certainty in the economy. The purpose of the volume is to build on this interdisciplinary exercise by adding empirical evidence to ongoing debates regarding enabling structures for international business, and by critically reviewing and discussing some of the propositions in the literature which contain interesting hypotheses on the effects of the internationalization of markets on market co-ordination institutions and on the role of the state in the globalising economy.

Pushing the boundaries between domestic and unified laws, this book explores the differences between unification and harmonization. Bruno Zeller provides a critical examination of the Convention for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), the advances of international jurisprudence and the role of domestic courts, in order to consider whether unification is merely a myth or a reality. Describing the salient features of unification and harmonization and using the CISG as a vehicle to test unification attempts, this volume touches on controversial points and fosters debates upon efforts to unify laws in discrete areas. It examines the assumption that the creation of a convention introduces a uniform law, which then contributes to the harmonization of international laws. Provocative, this is a must read for postgraduates and researchers studying and working in the fields of comparative and international trade law.

This book explores how digitalization and digital technologies influence markets, firms, financial institutions and organizations. Drawing on examples from Canada, Poland, France, Albania, Africa and Turkey this book takes a truly international perspective. It explores the technical aspects of digitalization, with chapters examining topics like how digitization creates value in a small company, how digital-driven business drives innovation, how import-exporting firms can increase productivity within the digital economy and how financial systems and institutions evolve due to new technologies. However, the book goes beyond this and, by adopting a holistic view, examines the social impact of digitalization, with the authors discussing how trade unions and employers present Industry 4.0 to employees and the general public. This book will be of interest to anyone studying digital innovation, digital management, digital strategy, Fin Tech, firm management, and Industry 4.0. Chapter 1 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

"[This book's] dual coverage of contracts under English law and the CISG is a valuable benefit for those interested in all types of sale of goods contracts, including the sale of commodities. The...commentary provides analysis on decided cases as well as on standard form contracts which represent evolving trade practice. In addition to matters of contract law, the book considers relevant property law, most notably addressing those issues arising out of the use of documents of title, such as marine bills of lading. The rights and duties of buyer and seller are explained in depth, and the relationship of sale contracts to other contracts, such as charter parties and letter of credit contracts, is rigorously examined. The book deals with issues of frustration and force majeure, the passing of property and risk, and remedies. The new edition provides expanded coverage of remedies, the passing of property, and the CISG, and gives even greater focus to the standard form contracts. All important recent decisions are considered and particularly those relating to interpretation and implied terms and the bunkers litigation."--

An oft-repeated assertion within contract law scholarship and cases is that a good contract law (or a good commercial contract law) will meet the needs and expectations of commercial contractors. Despite the prevalence of this statement, relatively little attention has been paid to why this should be the aim of contract law, how these 'commercial expectations' are identified and given substance, and what precise legal techniques might be adopted by courts to support the practices and expectations of business people. This book explores these neglected issues within contract law. It examines the idea of commercial expectation, identifying what expectations commercial contractors may have about the law and their business relationships (using empirical studies of contracting behaviour), and assesses the extent to which current contract law reflects these expectations. It considers whether supporting commercial expectations is a justifiable aim of the law according to three well-established theoretical approaches to contractual obligations: rights-based explanations, efficiency-based (or economic) explanations and the relational contract critique of the classical law. It explores the specific challenges presented to contract law by modern commercial relationships and the ways in which the general rules of contract law could be designed and applied in order to meet these challenges. Ultimately the book seeks to move contract law beyond a simple dichotomy between contextualist and formalist legal reasoning, to a more nuanced and responsive legal approach to the regulation of commercial agreements.

Commercial contract law is in every sense optional given the choice between legal systems and law and arbitration. Its 'doctrines' are in fact virtually all default rules. Contract Law Minimalism advances the thesis that commercial parties prefer a minimalist law that sets out to enforce what they have decided - but does nothing else. The limited capacity of the legal process is the key to this 'minimalist' stance. This book considers evidence that such minimalism is indeed what commercial parties choose to govern their transactions. It critically engages with alternative schools of thought, that call for active regulation of contracts to promote either economic efficiency or the trust and co-operation necessary for 'relational contracting'. The book also necessarily argues against the view that private law should be understood non-instrumentally (whether through promissory morality, corrective justice, taxonomic rationality, or otherwise). It sketches a restatement of English contract law in line with the thesis.