International trade and transnational law

This article deals with the globalisation of contract law. It begins with an historical survey before taking an inventory of the various types of uniform law. These range from ‘hard’ law, such as multilateral treaties, to ‘soft’ law, an expression that captures various non- binding instruments that can usefully be employed by contracting parties and sovereign sta- tes. These include contractual standard terms (e.g. Incoterms 2020) and standard form con- tracts (e.g. ISDA contracts), as well as UNCITRAL model laws. The influence of national law in the globalisation process is noted, whether it takes the form of influencing the laws of other states or provides input into the creation of uniform law. The UN Convention on the Interna- tional Sale of Goods (CISG) is examined at key points with reference to the influence exerted by the civil law and the common law in its creation. The importance of maintaining the uni- form character of the CISG is underlined. Finally, the role played by the UNIDROIT Princi- ples of International Commercial Contracts (PICC) is also examined.