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LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Legislative history of CISG article 29:
Match-up with 1978 Draft to assess relevance of Secretariat Commentary

     1978 Draft article 27                         CISG article 29

(1)A contract may be modified or           (1)A contract may be modified or ter-   
   abrogated by the mere agreement            minated by the mere agreement of              
   of the parties.                            the parties.                       

(2)A written contract which contains a     (2)A contract in writing which contains 
   provision requiring any modifica-          a provision requiring any modifica-        
   tion or abrogation to be in writing        tion or termination by agreement to       
   may not be otherwise modified or           be in writing may not be otherwise        
   abrogated. However, a party may            modified or terminated by agree-          
   be precluded by his conduct from           ment. However, a party may be             
   asserting such a provision to the ex-      precluded by his conduct from             
   tent that the other party has relied       asserting such a provision to the ex-     
   on that conduct.                           tent that the other party has relied      
                                              on that conduct. 


Editorial comments
The Secretariat Commentary on 1978 Draft article 27 remains relevant to
CISG article 29.  The key difference between these articles is the
substitution of "termination by agreement" for "abrogation".  The
explanation is :

"Mr. MEDVEDEV (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) said that...the
meaning of the English word 'abrogation'...did not seem to be very clear and
[his delegation] would like to see it clarified.  Mr. FARNSWORTH (United
States of America) said that the word 'abrogation' did not correspond to a
precise legal concept in the United States.  It could apply either to
termination by mutual agreement or to unilateral termination.  However, the
term was used several times in [CISG article 29] in the sense of termination
by mutual agreement.  It could therefore be considered to have the same
meaning throughout the text of the Convention.  Therefore, it would perhaps
be preferable to replace it by the expression 'termination by mutual
agreement', which would be less ambiguous (Official Records, p. 272).

The Secretariat Commentary on 1978 Draft article 27 should be read in
conjunction with this explanation.

To examine 1978 Draft provisions in context, go to the full-text of the 1978 Draft || To examine CISG provisions in context, go to the full text of the CISG