Specific Performance: A Comparative Analysis (1)

Abstract

This paper explores the regulation of specific performance of sales by reference to Spain and the USA, two jurisdictions which are exemplars of their respective legal families. It contrasts provisions under the Spanish Civil Code, Spain's Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil, and under the American Uniform Commercial Code, and speculates on the interaction of these municipal laws with the regulation of specific performance under the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The study is split into two parts, the first of which appears here, and the second of which follows in the next issue of the Edinburgh Law Review. In this first part, section B outlines method, while section C explores the modern Spanish doctrine on performance and damages in light of the Romano-Germanic preference for performance. Section D examines the preference for damages over performance in US commercial law. By comparing Spanish and United States approaches to specific performance, Section E identifies points of possible convergence between the two systems as well as some noteworthy differences between them. In the second part of the study, Section F will explore the CISG's approach to specific performance, with the goal of inquiring, on one hand, whether the drafters have successfully accounted for both the Anglo-American and the Romano-Germanic preferences, or, on the other hand, whether the CISG's synthesis of the preferences is faulty and manifests incompatible goals that may be difficult to harmonise. Recent US decisions on specific performance under the CISG will be sampled in section G, which will make explicit some assumptions underlying the reasoning processes of US courts in commercial cases. Section H, an epilogue, will speculate on reasons for the intensity of the rivalry between proponents of specific performance as a primary remedy and those favouring damages as a primary remedy.