UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts

An Indispensable Tool for Cross Border ContractsSince the first edition of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Law were released in 1994, they have become an invaluable tool for international lawyers. Written in English, they are designed for international commercial contracts and have been translated into 15 languages. The UNIDROIT Principles contain over 50 solutions to typical contractual questions constituting compromises between civil and common law, or between differing common laws and differing civil laws. Thus the UNIDROIT Principles provide a balanced and neutral set of rules restating an international understanding of global contract law. When parties from different legal backgrounds negotiate contracts it is often wise to consider choosing the UNIDROIT Principles as the contractual soft law regime. In other cases, the UNIDROIT Principles can serve as a checklist and inspire the drafting of a cross-border contract. The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law has endorsed their use "as appropriate, for their intended purposes." It is particularly appropriate to rely on the UNIDROIT Principles when a jurisdiction of one of the parties has roots in the UNIDROIT Principles.A Source of Law for Legislators and ArbitratorsMany national legislators have used the UNIDROIT Principles as a source to inspiring their own legislation. For example, in China the UNIDROIT based principle of assessing responsibilities by allocation to the sphere of a party was first introduced in 1999 and reconfirmed in 2017. In arbitration, parties sometimes agree anew to the application of the UNIDROIT Principles to avoid the research of otherwise applicable foreign law. Arbitrators use them to interpret other, more general concepts of law or to overcome deficiencies in a choice of law clause. Article-by-Article Comments of the 2016 EditionThe commentary analyses the UNIDROIT Principles article by article from a practical perspective, while also