Boilerplate Clauses, International Commercial Contracts and the Applicable Law: Common Law Contract Models and Commercial Transactions Subject to Civilian Governing Laws

427 Pages·2011·1.9 MB·English

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BOILERPLATE CLAUSES,
INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL
CONTRACTS AND
THE APPLICABLE LAW
With the aim of creating an autonomous regime for the interpretation
and application of the contract, boilerplate clauses are often inserted
intointernational commercialcontracts withoutnegotiationsorregard
fortheirlegaleffects.Theassumptionthatsufficientlydetailedandclear
language will ensure that the legal effects of the contract will only be
based on the contract, as opposed to the applicable law, was originally
encouraged by English courts, and today most international contracts
havetheseclauses,irrespectiveofthegoverninglaw.
Thiscollectionofessaysdemonstratesthatthisassumptionisnotfully
applicableundersystemsofcivillaw,becausethesesystemsarebasedon
principles,suchasgoodfaithandloyalty,whichcontradictthisapproach.
giudittacordero-mossisaprofessorattheInstituteofPrivateLaw,
University of Oslo, where her main areas of expertise are international
commercial law, comparative law and private international law. She
is also an international arbitrator and has in the past practised as an
internationalcommerciallawyerinItaly,NorwayandRussia.

BOILERPLATE CLAUSES,
INTERNATIONAL
COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS
AND THE APPLICABLE LAW
Edited by
GIUDITTA CORDERO-MOSS
cambridge university press
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Singapore,SãoPaulo,Delhi,Tokyo,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
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PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521197892
©CambridgeUniversityPress2011
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
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noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2011
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Boilerplateclauses,internationalcommercialcontractsandtheapplicable
law/editedbyGiudittaCordero-Moss.
p. cm.
ISBN978-0-521-19789-2(hardback)
1. Standardizedtermsofcontract. 2. Contracts–Language. 3. Foreigntrade
regulation. I. Cordero-Moss,Giuditta. II. Title.
K845.S7B65 2011
346.0202–dc22
2010037106
ISBN978-0-521-19789-2Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto
inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
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CONTENTS
Listofcontributors pagexvii
Preface xxi
Introduction 1
giuditta cordero-moss
1 Overviewofthebook 1
2 Thefindings 3
3 Acknowledgments 4
PART 1 Howcontractsarewritteninpractice 7
IntroductiontoPart1 9
1. Negotiatinginternationalcontracts:doestheprocess
inviteareviewofstandardcontractsfromthepoint
ofviewofnationallegalrequirements? 11
david echenberg
1 Howitallgotstarted 12
1.1 Notallcontractualtermsarecreatedequal 12
1.2 Imperfectinformation 15
1.3 Non-negotiatedcontracts 17
2 Theendresult 18
2.1 Thecontractasanimperfectcompromise 18
2.2 Consequences 18
2. Multinationalcompaniesandnationalcontracts 20
maria celeste vettese
1 Introduction 20
v
vi contents
2 Standardcontractualstructures,theirimpactonnational
legislationsandtheexpectationsoftheparties 22
3 Thein-houselawyerperspective 29
PART 2 Methodologicalchallenges 33
IntroductiontoPart2 35
3. Doestheuseofcommonlawcontractmodelsgiverise
toatacitchoiceoflawortoaharmonised,transnational
interpretation? 37
giuditta cordero-moss
1 Doesthedraftingstyleimplyachoiceoftheapplicable
law? 37
1.1 Tacitchoiceoflaw 39
1.2 Closestconnection 41
1.3 Conclusion 43
2 Isauniforminterpretationofinternationalcontractsthat
isindependentfromtheapplicablelawpossible? 43
2.1 Transnationalsources 52
2.2 Doestransnationallawhavetheforceoflaw? 45
2.3 Doestransnationallawexcludetheapplicablelaw? 47
2.3.1 Specificcontractregulations 47
2.3.2 Generalcontractregulations 48
2.4 Doestransnationallawprovideauniformstandard? 52
3 Conclusion 60
4. Commonlaw-basedcontractsunderGermanlaw 62
gerhard dannemann
1 Introduction 62
2 Likelyproblems 64
3 Courtpractice 67
3.1 Shippingcontracts,exclusionandpenaltyclauses 68
3.2 Financialsecuritiesandgoodfaith 74
3.3 Brokerageandgoodfaith 75
3.4 Constructioncontracts,warningsandfault 75
3.5 Controlofstandardtermsandexclusionclauses 76
4 Conclusions 77
contents vii
5. ComparingexculpatoryclausesunderAnglo-Americanlaw:
testingtotallegalconvergence 80
edward t. canuel
1 Introducingthecomparativelegalmethod:thefirststep
inevaluatingtotallegalconvergence 81
1.1 Legalconvergencetheory:discussionpoints 83
2 Exculpatoryclauses:background,interactionwith
contractualtheoriesandduties 85
2.1 Theroleofunconscionability 86
2.2 Assent,dutytoread 87
3 TestingconvergencewithintheAnglo-American
family:towagecontractsandexculpatory
clauses 93
3.1 ThedevelopmentofUSlaw:Bissoandbeyond 93
3.2 Thecommonlawfamilycomparison:Englishlaw 95
3.3 Theroleoflegaltechnicalities 98
4 Conclusion:astepawayfromtotallegal
convergence 101
6. CirculationofcommonlawcontractmodelsinEurope:the
impactoftheEuropeanUnionsystem 104
jean-sylvestre berge´
1 TheEuropeanUnionsystemandcirculationofcommon
lawcontractmodels 104
2 Analmostperfectexample:theCouragecase 104
3 ThecontextofthecaseinEUlaw 105
4 ThethreelessonsdrawnfromtheCouragecase 106
5 Firstlesson:incontractlaw,theuseoftheprinciple
ofproceduralautonomyisratherexceptionaland
ofasubsidiarynature 107
6 Secondlesson:theEuropeanframeworkgoverningthe
principleofproceduralautonomyaimsatestablishinga
correlationbetweenpartlyautonomousandpartly
hierarchisedlegalsystems 108
viii contents
7 Thirdlesson:theinterventionofEUlawleadstoarereading
ofnationallaws,whichisrathernuancedandhasabroad
meaning 110
8 Conclusion 112
PART 3 Theapplicablelaw’seffectsonboilerplate
clauses 113
IntroductiontoPart3 115
1 ClausesanalysedinPart3 118
1.1 Entireagreement 119
1.2 Nowaiver 119
1.3 Nooralamendments 119
1.4 Severability 119
1.5 Conditions/essentialterms 119
1.6 Soleremedy 119
1.7 Subjecttocontract 120
1.8 Materialadversechange 120
1.9 Liquidateddamages 120
1.10 Indemnity 121
1.11 Representationsandwarranties 122
1.12 Hardship 122
1.13 Forcemajeure 123
2 Casesillustratingtheneedforcoordinationwiththe
applicablelaw 125
2.1 Clausesaimingatfullydetachingthecontractfromthe
applicablelaw 125
2.2 Clausesusingaterminologywithlegaleffectsnotknown
totheapplicablelaw 127
2.3 Clausesregulatingmattersalreadyregulatedintheapplicable
law 127
7. Thecommonlawtradition:applicationofboilerplateclauses
underEnglishlaw 129
edwin peel
1 Introduction 129
1.1 Content 129
1.2 Interpretation 132
1.3 Goodfaith 134
1.4 Conclusionandmethodology 135