Author Description

The past two decades have witnessed an explosion in the growth of transnational commercial law, which represents the product of work to harmonize national laws affecting domestic and cross-border transactions. Diverse instruments have been used to advance this process: international and regional conventions, model laws, EC directives and regulations, uniform rules produced by bodies such as the International Chamber of Commerce, and international and European restatements of contract law by scholars. This volume brings together all the diverse major instruments in the field, dividing them into twelve groups: Treaty Law, Contracts, Electronic Commerce, International Sales, Agency and Distribution, International Credit Transfers and Bank Payment Undertakings, International Secured Transactions, Cross-Border Insolvency, Securities Settlement and Securities Collateral, Conflict of Laws, Civil Procedure, and Commercial Arbitration. Each group of instruments is preceded by linking text which provides important context by identifying the key instruments in each group, discussing their purposes and relationships, and explaining the major provisions of each instrument, thus setting them in their commercial context. This volume is unique in providing the full text of international conventions, including the preamble - which is important for interpretation - and the final clauses and any annexes. In addition, each instrument is accompanied by a complete list of dates of signature and ratification by all contracting states, and is preceded by a table of contents for that instrument, for ease of navigation. This fully-indexed work provides an indispensable guide for the practitioner or academic to the primary transnational commercial law instruments.