The Purposes of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts

국제상사계약(國際商事契約)에 관한 UNIDROIT 원칙(原則)의 의의(意義)

In this Article the writer introduces the origin and preparation of "the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts". In May 1994 the Governing Council of the UNIDROIT gave its formal imprimatur to the UNIDROIT Principles and recommended their widest possible distribution in practice. After brief discussion of the establishment procedure of the UNIDROIT Principles the writer discusses the legal nature of the Principles as an international restatement of contract law. The UNIDROIT Principles has more flexibility than international convention. But it has deficit in the sense of legal stability. Also the scope of application of the Principles was discussed. It can be applied only to the international commercial contracts. It includes two basic principles in it's application, i. e. "commercial contracts" and "international contracts". For the rest of the Article the writer concentrates on the contents of the Principles and the basic ideas underlying the Principles from the point of view of the comparision between the UNIDROIT Principles and "the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods" (CISG). The UNIDROIT Principles are only restatements and the CISG is an international convention. The application of the CISG is obligatory due to its nature as an international convention. In the contrary the possibility of the application of the UNIDROIT Principles is more flexible. The UNIDROIT Principles is a more comprehensive instrument than CISG. Therefore it can be applied to all kinds of international commercial contracts. In the contrary the CISG can be applied only to international sales contract. Since CISG only deals with contracts for the sale of goods, and the scope of the UNIDROIT Principles is much wider, no overlap can occur where contracts other than sales contracts are concerned. Rather the UNIDROIT Principles can supplement the CISG and the CISG also can be criteria in interpreting the UNIDROIT Principles. As the conclusion the writer summarizes the meanings of the UNIDROIT Principles and presupposed the futur perspectives of the Principles.