Research Paper Number

7/2013

Peter Mazzacano

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2013

Keywords

Article 79; autonomous legal orders; CISG; Force Majeure; Frustration; German courts; homeward trend; Impossibility; international sales law; Private international law

Abstract

This article analyzes the treatment of CISG Article 79 by the German courts. Indeed, as one of the most prolific adjudicators of CISG jurisprudence, there now exists a critical mass of case law on Article 79 in Germany. The focus on a specific CISG provision by a specific jurisdiction wields invaluable information about the treatment of Article 79 by that signatory state. It finds that German courts have played a preeminent role in the interpretation of Article 79. In particular, German courts have generally eschewed the “homeward trend” that has plagued a number of other signatory states. This is an important development towards a conceptual goal of functional uniformity to which the CISG aspires. It also demonstrates that a specific CISG article - Article 79 - can stand alone as an autonomous international principle, without being charged with competing domestic principles. Article 79 has thus evolved - at least in Germany - into an autonomous international norm. This development suggests that Article 79 is capable of creating relative uniformity within the context of the CISG’s goal for a sales law that is truly transnational in design.

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