Buyer’s remedies under the CISG and English sales law: a comparative analysis

This thesis is a comparative analysis between the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and English sales law, as applicable to England and Wales. The focus is on the buyer’s remedies for breach of contract by the seller, which is the area where the differences between the two systems are identified as particularly striking. There is no satisfactory example in the literature of a traditional comparative analysis of the buyer’s remedies in the CISG which are allegedly different to those in English sales law. With the exception of damages, this thesis among other relevant provisions compares the buyer’s rights under the CISG to require performance by the seller (including the right to require substitute delivery and repair), to fix an additional period of time for performance, to declare the contract avoided and to reduce the price, with the equivalent English sales law rules, if any. The aim of this thesis is to identify the differences between the CISG and English sales law and determine whether these differences will have significant practical consequences for merchants in the eventuality the UK accedes to the CISG and the Convention becomes the country’s legal regime for contracts for the international sale of goods. By considering unfamiliar CISG provisions against established English sales law knowledge, this thesis also aims to make the CISG more intelligible and digestible to English lawyers. This is necessary, regardless of whether the United Kingdom accedes to the CISG, because, the reality of the CISG as the international sale of goods law of 83 countries means that English commercial actors and lawyers are bound to be frequently coming across it.