Analysis of the Cultural Homeward Trend in International Sales Law

Article 7 of the Vienna Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (‘CISG’) mandates that the convention must be interpreted uniformly without recurse to domestic principles. This article demonstrates that the homeward trend – the tendency to project domestic laws onto the international provisions of a Convention is breach of article 7(1). However, art 7(2) alerts the reader that some matters are not expressly settled but must be settled by recourse to general principles within the CISG and again no recourse to domestic laws can be sought even if the terms track domestic laws. This article argues that a distinction must be draws if vague terms vague terms such as reasonable time must be interpreted. These terms are not governed by laws but are subject to factual events such as customs or universal understanding.