The UNIDROIT Principles of lnternational Commercial Contracts and South African Contract Law

The present state of international trade law governing commercial contracts seems to be far from satisfactory. A commercial transaction between parties from different countries gives rise to a variety of legal issues that normally find no counterpart in a purely domestic transaction. 1 Since the traditional way of dealing with an international commercial contract is to make reference to the rules of private international law of the lex fori, in most cases rules of municipal law will govern the legal relationship between the parties. Yet, domestic law is not tailored to meet the specific requirements of modem international sales, and thus may often provide legal solutions that are not appropriate to cross-border transactions at all