Primers on the CISG from common law and civil law perspectives

An overlay

• The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is an overlay; it sits a top the national sales code or sales law of each country that has adopted it. In most cases, this is a domestic regime that is either civil law or common law -- cultures that have at times approached sales law challenges somewhat differently. How does the CISG sit a top different civil law and common law regimes? For an introduction to that, go to: Ulrich Drobnig, General Principles of European Contract Law, in: Sarcevic & Volken ed., International Sale of Goods: Dubrovnik Lectures, Oceana (1986) 305-332 [2]. His paper also helps us understand how some of the CISG's conflict-compromises came about.
• CISG textbook (2007) [3]

• Yearbook of CISG cases:  2000 - 2014 (Archived CISG Database Information) [4]

Visualizing CISG

• 2013 presentation of "visual" CISG [5]

COVID19 and the CISG

Force Majeure and Hardship in the Age of Corona: A Historical and Comparative Study (2020) [6]

COVID-19: Force Majeure under the CISG (2020) [7]

CISG hardship exemption in the time of COVID-19 [8] (2020)

The Effects of COVID-19 on International Contracts: A Comparative Overview (2020) [9]

Hardship Within the Scope of CISG (2020) [10]

Global sales law in a global pandemic: The CISG as the applicable law to the EU-AstraZeneca Advance Purchase Agreement? (2021) [11]

Example of disputes arising due to COVID19: US (2021) [12]; Belgium AstraZeneca (2021) [13]; Netherlands (2021) [14]

2019 Commentary

• Brunner & Gottlieb: Commentary on the UN Sales Law (CISG) [15]
• Schwenzer, Fountoulakis & Mariel, International Sales Law: A Guide to the CISG [16] 
• CISG: Then and Now — What Is Next?: Contracts for the International Sale of Goods: A Multidisciplinary Perspective [17]

CISG and Tech Related Matters

• What does the CISG have to say about smart contracts?: a legal analysis [18]
• The Vienna Convention on International Sales of Goods and the Bitcoin [19]

UCC and CISG

• Uniform Commercial Code- Digest [20] consists of case law on various U.S. commercial law topics. It also touches upon CISG, where deemed relevant. It is available online through Lexis/ Nexis and is updated periodically.

Recent CIETAC Analysis (2019)

• A Study on Application of CISG in the Commercial Arbitration of China-Focus on CIETAC Arbitration Cases [21]

A view from South Africa

• Analysis by Sieg Eiselen of South Africa [22]. Analysis of: The need for unification of international sales law; Development of the CISG; Other methods to achieve legal unification or solve problems of international sales; The case for adoption; The case against adoption; Experience with the CISG thus far.

A view on Turkey- U.S. Contracts

• Turkey's Accession to the CISG: The Significance for Turkey and for Sales Transactions with U.S. Contracting Parties [23] (2011)

Other analyses

• The Vienna Sales Convention and the Lex Mercatoria: [24] a good overview of the CISG prepared by a leading French authority. For another civil law perspective, see Silvia Ferreri, 25 Journal of Law and Commerce (2005-2006) 223-239 [25]
• What is the Convention about and how does it impact upon English lawyers? For a superb introduction to this subject, see Barry Nicholas, The Vienna Convention on International Sales Law. 103 Law Quarterly Review (1989) 201-243 [26]
• A brief overview of the CISG: Explanatory Note by the UNCITRAL Secretariat on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods [27]
• A report on the CISG prepared by the Law Commission of New Zealand [28]: an especially good general introduction to the CISG for persons from common law jurisdictions
• Analyse de Dispositions de la C.V.I.M. du Point de Vue du Droit Civil Québécois [29]: [French text] prepared for the Uniform Law Conference of Canada.
• Uniform Sales Law - The Experience with Uniform Sales Laws in the Federal Republic of Germany [30], [31] prepared by the editor of Germany's leading text on the CISG.
• Checklist on the CISG [32]: adapted excerpt from 1994 Guide to Practical Applications of the Untited Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods
• The Uniform International Sales Law, in: Dalhuisen on International Commercial, Financial and Trade Law, Hart Publishing (2007) 400-330 [33]
• Analysis from a Provincial Common Law Perspective: [34]also prepared by the Uniform Law Conference of Canada; in addition to comparisons of the CISG with Canadian law, includes many comparisons with the UCC and with common law sales rules in general.
• An introduction to the CISG: La Convención de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Contratos de Compraventa Internacional de Mercaderías [35]: [Spanish text] prepared by the authors of Argentina's leading text on the CISG.
• Luke Nottage, Who's Afraid of the Vienna Sales Convention (CISG)? A New Zealander's View from Australia and Japan, Victoria University of Wellington Law Review (2005/4) 815-845 [36]

Seminal text

• For a seminal text on the CISG prepared by the individual we regard as Europe's leading authority on the subject, go to: Peter Schlechtriem, Uniform Sales Law: The UN-Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, Vienna: Manz (1986) 120 pages. [37]

Other primers on the CISG have been prepared by law revision commissions or authorities from many countries. For citations to them, see the Bibliography on the CISG [38].