Cisg Case Law: A New Challenge for Interpreters?*

This chapter intends to show that even though the foregoing rules of interpretation promote uniformity, they do not solve all the interpretative problems. There are still some important unanswered questions. This becomes even more evident today, in an era of growing CISG case law. As far as the CISG's applicability is concerned, it is common knowledge that the Convention is “directly” applicable when the contracting parties have their places of business in different Contracting States, a criterion which is increasingly leading to the CISG's applicability. The basic methodological problem created by the knowledge of foreign case law concerns the degree of its authority. Foreign case law should be used as a…