CISG Versus English Sales Law: An Unfair Competition

Abstract

This paper aims to answer the question why so many international traders choose English Sales Law instead of the CISG to govern their transactions.Through a comparison of the CISG and English Sales Law, this paper articulates the major competitive disadvantages of the CISG, and then suggests certain improvements for future reform.The discussion proceeds as follows. Section 2 sets the analysis into the historical context, reviewing briefly the developing histories of The CISG and English Sales Law. It is argued that English Sales Law has been widely used by commercial parties long before the enactment of the CISG. As a consequence, it has already established a dominant position in international trade which can hardly be challenged by the CISG. Section 3 addresses the fragmentary features of the CISG. Because of the way in which the CISG is drafted, many conflicting interests need to be balanced so that certain compromises have to be made. The CISG inevitably becomes a fragmentary body of legal rules, which undermines significantly its competitive advantages. The problems of ambiguity in the CISG and conflicting interpretations produced by its member states are evaluated in Sections 4 and 5 respectively, Finally, Section 6 concludes the discussion by offering some suggestions for future reform.