UNCITRAL Digest of Article 59 case law

DIGEST OF ARTICLE 59 CASE LAW

Dispensation from formalities prior to payment of the price

1. Under this provision the price must be paid as soon as it is becomes due without the need for any notice or compliance with any other formality.[1] An effect of this, as one court decision noted, is that the seller can have recourse to all the remedies provided under the Convention in the event of default by the buyer in respect of its obligation to pay the price, and without prior notice at that.[2] Furthermore, the interest provided for under article 78 begins to accumulate as soon as the price becomes due.[3]

Dispensation from formalities prior to settlement of other monetary obligations

2. It is often said that this article embodies a general principle within the meaning of article 7(2) valid for any and all monetary claims which one of the parties to a sales contract may have against the other, such as restitution of the price following dissolution of the contract, payment of compensation or repayment of sums expended for conservation of the goods. There are not yet any court decisions which have addressed this issue.

FOOTNOTES

* The present text was prepared using the full text of the decisions cited in the Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts (CLOUT) abstracts and other citations listed in the footnotes. The abstracts are intended to serve only as summaries of the underlying decisions and may not reflect all the points made in the digest. Readers are advised to consult the full texts of the listed court and arbitral decisions rather than relying solely on the CLOUT abstracts.

[Citations to cisgw3 case presentations have been substituted [in brackets] for the case citations provided in the UNCITRAL Digest. This substitution has been made to facilitate online access to CLOUT abstracts, original texts of court and arbitral decisions, and full text English translations of these texts (available in most but not all cases). For citations UNCITRAL had used, go to <http://www.uncitral.org/english/clout/digest_cisg_e.htm>.]

1. For applications of that principles, see [GERMANY Landgericht [District Court] Berlin 21 March 2003, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/030321g1.html>]; [SWITZERLAND Handelsgericht [Commercial Court] Aargau 5 November 2002, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/021105s1.html>]; [ARGENTINA Cámara Nacional de los Apelaciones en lo Comercial [Appellate Court] 21 July 2002, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/020721a1.html>]; [SWITZERLAND Kantonsgericht [District Court] Schaffhausen 25 February 2002, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/020225s1.html>]; [GERMANY Landgericht [District Court] Stendal 12 October 2000, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/001012g1.html>]; CLOUT case No. 297 [GERMANY Oberlandesgericht [Appellate Court] München 21 January 1998, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/980121g1.html>] (see full text of the decision); CLOUT case No. 273 [GERMANY Oberlandesgericht [Appellate Court] München 9 July 1997; available at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/970709g1.html>]; CLOUT case No. 163 [HUNGARY Budapest Arbitration Award case No. Vb 96074 of 10 December 1996, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/961210h1.html>] (see full text of the decision); [GERMANY Amtsgericht [Lower Court] Augsburg 29 January 1996, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/960129g1.html>]; CLOUT case No. 197 [SWITZERLAND Tribunal [Appellate Court] Valais 20 December 1994, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/941220s1.html>] (see full text of the decision); [GERMANY Landgericht [District Court] Hannover 1 December 1993, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/931201g1.html>]; [GERMANY Amtsgericht [Lower Court] Ludwigsburg 21 December 1990, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/901221g1.html>]; CLOUT case No. 7 [GERMANY Amtsgericht [Lower Court] Oldenburg in Holstein 24 April 1990, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/900424g1.html>] (see full text of the decision); CLOUT case No. 46 [GERMANY Landgericht [District Court] Aachen 3 April 1990, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/900403g1.html>] (see full text of the decision).

2. CLOUT case No. 281 [GERMANY Oberlandesgericht [Appellate Court] Koblenz 17 September 1993, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/930917g1.html>] (see full text of the decision).

3. In this respect see, e.g., [GERMANY Oberlandesgericht [Appellate Court] Rostock 25 September 2002, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/020925g1.html>] (see also, in an implicit manner, [BELGIUM Tribunal [District Court] Namur 15 January 2002, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/020115b1.html>]; CLOUT case No. 275 [GERMANY Oberlandesgericht [Court] Düsseldorf 24 April 1997, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/970424g1.html>]; [GERMANY Landgericht [District Court] Kassel 15 February 1996, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/960215g2.html>]; [GERMANY Landgericht [District Court] München 25 January 1996, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/960125g1.html>]; [GERMANY Amtsgericht [Lower Court] Kehl 6 October 1995, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/951006g1.html>]; CLOUT case No. 410 [GERMANY Landgericht [Lower Court] Alsfeld 12 May 1995, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/950512g1.html>]; CLOUT case No. 79 [GERMANY Oberlandesgericht [Appellate Court] Frankfurt 18 January 1994, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/940118g1.html>] (see full text of the decision); [GERMANY Landgericht [District Court] Berlin 6 October 1992, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/921006g1.html>]; [GERMANY Landgericht [District Court] Mönchengladbach 22 May 1992, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/920522g1.html>]; [SWITZERLAND Pretore della giurisdizione [District Court] Locarno 16 December 1991, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/.html>]; CLOUT case No. 7 [GERMANY Amtsgericht [Lower Court] Oldenburg in Holstein 24 April 1990, available online at <http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/900424g1.html>] (see full text of the decision).