International Sale of Goods (Dubrovnik Lectures) edited by Petar ar evi and Paul Volken, and Documentary History of the Uniform Law for International Sales by John Honnold

Abstract

International Sale of Goods (Dubrovnik Lectures) edited by Petar Sarcevic and Paul Volken. Published by Oceana Publications Inc., New York (1986, ix and 508 pp. incl. Foreword, Abbreviations, Tables of Contents and Index). Hardback. Price not disclosed . Documentary History of the Uniform Law for International Sales by John Honnold. Published by Kluwer Law and Taxation Publishers. Deventer, The Netherlands (1988, xii and 881 pp. incl. Preface, Summary of Contents, Table of Contents, General Introduction, Concordance and Index ). Hardback. Price UK £105; US $150 . It is now ten years since UNCITRAL, taking up the task begun by UNIDROIT sixty years ago, produced the Vienna Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. This has won far wider approval than its forerunners, the Hague Conventions of 1964, embodied in the Uniform Laws on International Sales Act 1967, and in any event this Convention is likely to be of much greater practical significance than the earlier Uniform Laws since its operation must be expressly excluded if it is not to apply, and the alternative of contractual adoption, chosen by the UK for the 1967 Uniform Laws, is not available. It is already in force in many countries but its fate in the UK is still uncertain. The two books reviewed provide in very different ways welcome help for those who may have to grapple with this challenge at the heart of commercial law. The first is discursive and academic, a collection of essays based on lectures given on a postgraduate course at the Inter-University Centre at Dubrovnik, and the second practical, a collection of preparatory documents and materials. The Dubrovnik Lectures open with the only non-European contributor, Professor Sono from Japan, a former Secretary of UNCITRAL, tracing the development of unification of law in this field, attributing the greater success of the Vienna Convention to the wider representation of states in its preparation and the greater simplicity of its language, whilst conceding that its contents draw heavily on the Hague Conventions. Paul Volken then considers the scope and interpretation of the new Convention and its provision for filling gaps. Thus consumer and auction sales are excluded as are sales of ships, aircraft and electricity and interpretation should promote the overriding object of uniformity …