The interpretation regime under Article 8 of the CISG and the dichotomy between common and civil law

Abstract

The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods offers the promise of harmonising international sales law. In this regard, Article 8 of the CISG establishes uniform rules for the interpretation of statements and conduct of parties to an international sales contract. However, considering that the Convention is the result of decades of negotiations among countries from different legal traditions, Article 8 may include legal concepts that are familiar to either common or civil law countries. As a result, courts may undermine the purpose of the CISG and interpret the principles in light of domestic law, leading to the non-uniform application of the Convention. This thesis, through doctrinal legal analysis, seeks to determine whether Article 8 contains elements closer to common or civil law legal traditions and ascertains whether courts have interpreted the Article by recourse to domestic rules of interpretation.