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The central focus is on the testing of the causes and effects of export earnings instability in Brazil, 1953-1983. While Brazil has been included in some cross-sectional studies of fluctuations in export earnings, it has not been the subject of a case study, as is provided here. We test the traditional theory which stipulates that increased diversification of exports will decrease export earnings instability, and that in turn, a decrease in export earnings instability will enhance economic growth. While we do find that export diversification in Brazil did result in lower export earnings instability, the lower export earnings instability did not in turn stimulate economic growth. Our results indicate that the export earnings instability of manufactured goods was positively associated with the growth rate of Brazil's Gross National Product. The results of this case study may prove relevant to other developing countries striving to emulate the Brazilian success in diversifying into manufactured exports.

The 1980 United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods, concluded under the auspices of UNCITRAL, creates a comprehensive statutory legal framework for international sales. Through the express incorporation of the principle of freedom of contract, the convention contains rules which the parties may freely adapt to the particular circumstances of their transaction, by filling any gaps that may arise with trade usages and other practices. In addition, the convention recognises the binding force of international trade usages in certain circumstances, in that it binds parties to usages which are so widely known and have acquired such regularity of observance in international trade as to justify an expectation that they will be observed in the particular transaction. Such acknowledgment of the changing patterns and norms of behaviour which characterise international trade law allows the CISG to be categorised as a major component of the modern lex mercatoria. / Constitutional International & Indigenous Law / LL.M.

Thesis (LLD (Mercantile Law))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: International sales contracts have very specific needs that stem from the multiplicity of legal systems which apply to such contracts. In addition to harmonised law, mercantile custom is able to address many of these needs. Mercantile custom represents usages which are clear, certain and efficient and are expected to be known and applied by merchants in a particular trade or region. To this extent mercantile custom fulfils an automatic harmonisation function. However, where a custom does not enjoy uniform application across all branches of trade, the harmonisation function of mercantile custom is limited, as is the case with trade terms. Trade terms reflect mercantile customs and usages which developed over a long time in order to simplify the trade in goods that are transported from one place to the other. They regulate the delivery obligations of the seller and buyer as well as associated obligations such as the passing of risk. Trade terms negate the need for elaborate contract clauses and appear in abbreviated form in contracts of sale. Although they provide a uniform expression of mercantile custom in a particular location or trade, the understanding of trade terms tend to differ from country to country, region to region or from one branch of trade to the next. The ICC INCOTERMS is an effort to standardise trade term definitions at the hand of the most consistent mercantile customs and practices. The aim of this study is to investigate the efficiency of INCOTERMS as a form of standardisation in international sales law. For purposes of the investigation the focus is limited to the passing of risk. Although national laws usually have a default risk regime in place, merchants still prefer to regulate risk by means of trade terms. This study will investigate the legal position in the case of FOB, CIF and DDU terms. An analysis of the risk regimes of a few selected national systems will show that each has their own understanding of these trade terms. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) does not refer to trade terms, but many commentators have concluded that the CISG risk rule is consistent with INCOTERMS. The study will discuss this in more detail. To determine the efficiency of INCOTERMS as a form of standardisation in international sales law, the study examines their characteristics, legal nature as well as their limited scope of regulation. Specific emphasis is placed on the interplay between the CISG and INCOTERMS and the possibility of some form of interaction and collaboration between the two instruments. It is concluded that collaboration between INCOTERMS and the CISG adds value to the international law of sales by increasing the efficiency of an international business transaction and thereby facilitating international trade. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Internasionale koopkontrakte het spesifieke behoeftes wat voortspruit uit die veelvoudigheid van regstelsels van toepassing op so ‘n kontrak. Baie van hierdie behoeftes kan aangespreek word deur geharmoniseerde regsreëls in samehang met handelsgewoontes en –gebruike. Handelsgewoontes verteenwoordig duidelike, seker en effektiewe gebruike. Daar word dus van handelaars wat in ‘n bepaalde bedryf of streek handel dryf, verwag om van hierdie gebruike kennis te neem en hulle toe te pas. In hierdie konteks vervul handelsgebruike ‘n outomatiese harmoniseringsfunksie. Waar ‘n gebruik nie eenvormig toegepas word oor alle bedrywe heen nie, is die harmoniseringsfunksie van handelsgebruike egter beperk. Handelsterme bied ‘n tipiese voorbeeld hiervan. Handelsterme verteenwoordig bepaalde handelsgewoontes en –gebruike wat oor ‘n geruime tyd ontwikkel het ten einde handel in goedere wat van een plek na die ander vervoer word, te vergemaklik. Hulle reguleer die leweringsverpligtinge van die verkoper en koper asook ander verpligtinge wat met lewering verband hou, soos byvoorbeeld die oorgang van risiko. Handelsterme doen weg met lang en omslagtige kontraksbedinge aangesien hulle in die vorm van afkortings in die kontrak figureer. Alhoewel handelsterme ‘n uniforme uitdrukking van gebruike in ‘n bepaalde gebied of bedryf verteenwoordig, is dit egter so dat die inhoud van handelsterme van land tot land, streek tot streek of van een tipe bedryf tot die ander verskil. INCOTERMS is ‘n poging om die inhoud van handelsterme te standaardiseer aan die hand van die mees eenvormige handelsgewoontes en –gebruike. Die doel van hierdie studie is om die effektiwiteit van INCOTERMS as ‘n vorm van standaardisering in die internasionale koopreg te ondersoek. Vir doeleindes van die ondersoek word die fokus beperk tot die oorgang van risiko. Al het nasionale regstelsels gewoonlik ‘n verstek risiko-reël in plek, verkies handelaars steeds om risiko by wyse van handelsterme te reguleer. Die studie ondersoek die regsposisie in die geval van FOB-, CIF-, en DDU-terme. ‘n Analise van risiko-regulering in ‘n aantal nasionale sisteme toon dat elk hul eie betekenis heg aan die inhoud van hierdie terme. Alhoewel die Weense Koopkonvensie geensins na handelsterme verwys nie, voer verskeie kommentatore aan dat die Konvensie se risiko-bestel verenigbaar is met dié van INCOTERMS en sal hierdie aspek gevolglik in meer besonderhede in die studie aangespreek word. Ten einde die effektiwiteit van INCOTERMS te bepaal, word daar ondersoek ingestel na hulle kenmerke, regsaard en beperkte aanwendingsgebied. Spesiale klem word gelê op die wisselwerking tussen die Weense Koopkonvensie en INCOTERMS asook die moontlikheid van interaksie en samewerking tussen die twee instrumente. Die gevolgtrekking is dat interaksie tussen die Koopkonvensie en INCOTERMS waarde toevoeg tot die internasionale koopreg deur die effektiwiteit van die internasionale besigheidstransaksie te verhoog en gevolglik internasionale handel te bevorder. / Harry Crossley Fund / NRF Thuthuka Fund

This thesis attempts to critically and comparatively analyse the issues relating to the passing of property and risk under the United Nations Convention on the Contract for International Sale of Goods (CISG) and English Law (SGA). The passing of property and risk plays a central role in the area of international legislation in relation to sales contracts. These elements can be the most significant components in contracts of sale between parties, whether in the international or domestic field. The reason is founded on their legal nature and the close relationship between them. The passing of property and risk has been a central issue for practitioners, judges and lawyers dating back to the Roman period and several ideas have been proposed to resolve it. Where the situation is different for contracts of sale in relation to the passing of property and risk, whether in the domestic or international field, it still creates many unresolved problems, because of ongoing changes in the field of modern commerce, which may contribute to unfair implications between the parties. It has been observed in this thesis that both English law and the CISG adopt the party autonomy principle, where the intention of the parties - whether in relation to the passing of property or risk - is the basic rule. However, the difference lies in the default rules. While English law involves default substitutional rules, which apply in cases where there is an absence of an expressed or implied indication regarding the intention between the parties, the CISG lacks such default rules regarding the transfer of property, which could be viewed as its main weakness, although the CISG does involve such provisions with respect to the transfer of risk. This thesis willdiscusses, the legal nature of the rules in relation to the passing of property and risk, and the role of the party autonomy principle, and the impacts and legal difficulties that might arise through the application of these rules, whether they are default rules or based on the party autonomy principle. It will also examine the legal gaps and weaknesses of both legal systems in an attempt to identify such legal difficulties and to find appropriate solutions and remedies.

The 1980 United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods, concluded under the auspices of UNCITRAL, creates a comprehensive statutory legal framework for international sales. Through the express incorporation of the principle of freedom of contract, the convention contains rules which the parties may freely adapt to the particular circumstances of their transaction, by filling any gaps that may arise with trade usages and other practices. In addition, the convention recognises the binding force of international trade usages in certain circumstances, in that it binds parties to usages which are so widely known and have acquired such regularity of observance in international trade as to justify an expectation that they will be observed in the particular transaction. Such acknowledgment of the changing patterns and norms of behaviour which characterise international trade law allows the CISG to be categorised as a major component of the modern lex mercatoria. / Constitutional International and Indigenous Law / LL.M.

To regulate and facilitate are the main functions of legal rules. These purposes are achieved by a harmonised legal system by which the law becomes identical in numerous jurisdictions. The process to unify the law of sale internationally started in the 1920s and culminated, in 1988, in the implementation of the CISG. This Convention intends to provide clarity for most international sales transactions by regulating the formation of contracts, and the rights and obligations of the seller and the buyer resulting from the contract. The CISG has these days enjoyed much ratification and influenced a number of legislation reforms worldwide. Despite the role it played during the drafting process of the CISG, the DRC has not yet ratified it. Instead, the country continued to rely, until recently, on colonial legislations which had become out-dated, and inadequate to meet modern international sales contracts requirements. The situation appears to have been improved a year ago as the effect of the adoption of OHADA law whose Commercial Act is largely inspired by the CISG. Because the introduction of OHADA law in the DRC is very recent, this study intends to assess the current state of Congolese sales law by comparing it with the CISG and South African law, which is non-CISG but modernised. The comparative study aims at establishing whether current Congolese law, as amended by OHADA law, is sufficient or has shortcomings; if it has some, it aims to identify those shortcomings, and make suggestions for their improvements. After discussion, it has been discovered that the ratification of OHADA law has significantly improved Congolese domestic sales law. Given that there remain certain unresolved shortcomings in Congolese international sales law, however, the study ends by a proposal for the accession of the DRC to the CISG in order to fill them. / Mercantile Law / LLD

To regulate and facilitate are the main functions of legal rules. These purposes are achieved by a harmonised legal system by which the law becomes identical in numerous jurisdictions. The process to unify the law of sale internationally started in the 1920s and culminated, in 1988, in the implementation of the CISG. This Convention intends to provide clarity for most international sales transactions by regulating the formation of contracts, and the rights and obligations of the seller and the buyer resulting from the contract. The CISG has these days enjoyed much ratification and influenced a number of legislation reforms worldwide. Despite the role it played during the drafting process of the CISG, the DRC has not yet ratified it. Instead, the country continued to rely, until recently, on colonial legislations which had become out-dated, and inadequate to meet modern international sales contracts requirements. The situation appears to have been improved a year ago as the effect of the adoption of OHADA law whose Commercial Act is largely inspired by the CISG. Because the introduction of OHADA law in the DRC is very recent, this study intends to assess the current state of Congolese sales law by comparing it with the CISG and South African law, which is non-CISG but modernised. The comparative study aims at establishing whether current Congolese law, as amended by OHADA law, is sufficient or has shortcomings; if it has some, it aims to identify those shortcomings, and make suggestions for their improvements. After discussion, it has been discovered that the ratification of OHADA law has significantly improved Congolese domestic sales law. Given that there remain certain unresolved shortcomings in Congolese international sales law, however, the study ends by a proposal for the accession of the DRC to the CISG in order to fill them. / Mercantile Law / LL. D.

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

This research analyses the impact and materiality of South Africa’s choice not to ratify the CISG on its trade as well as relations with other states. As the point of departure, the broader events leading up to the creation of the CISG will be examined as well as UNCITRAL’s mandate and the development of trade in the local and global context. At present, the CISG has been ratified by 85 states. The decisions by common law jurisdictions such as the UK and India not to ratify the CISG as well as the delay by Brazil and Japan will be discussed. The legal, business and political or policy reasons for and against the ratification of the CISG are investigated which focuses on aspects such as legal certainty, uniformity of laws and the reduction of legal costs. An investigation is carried out regarding the historical foundations of the South African law of contract to this framework sets the tone for a comparison between the South African law and the provisions of the CISG. Lastly, a comparison is drawn between the provisions of the CISG and the South African law with specific emphasis on the remedies of specific performance and the right to claim damages which culminates in an overall conclusion that the South African law is compatible with the CISG insofar as remedies for breach of contract are concerned. / Mercantile Law / LL. M. (International Economic Law)