Les Principes Unidroit comme cadre de référence pour l’interprétation uniforme des droits nationaux : Rapport national Droit français

Abstract

Unlike many other civil codes modeled after the Napoleonic model, the drafters of the French Civil Code (“FrCC”) chose not to include specific directives on how to interpret or complement it, thus adopting the notion that the purpose of a code is to prescribe a coherent set of rules, rather than setting forth scholarly guidelines. Yet, Article 1194 FrCC (formerly Art. 1135 FrCC), which provides that the meaning and effects of a contract means more than its terms, leaves some room for the UNIDROIT Principles on International Commercial Contracts (“the Principles” or “UPIC”) to play a role in the interpretation or complementation of international commercial contracts, at least in theory and as long as the rules embodied in the UNIDROIT Principles qualify as “usages” or “general principles”. A search of the decisions rendered by France’s highest court (Cour de cassation, also referred to as the “French Supreme Court” or simply as “the Court”) since 1987, however, discloses that the Principles have been rarely invoked.