The aim of the thesis was to critically compare termination of contracts in South Africa, England and the CISG. It was found out that South Africa prefers to use the term cancellation because it is a remedy of last resort. The problem with cancellation is that is a drastic step of bringing the transaction to an abrupt and premature end, which is only used when a material breach occurs. English law uses the term discharge as it refers to the ending of the obligations under the contract when a breach occurred and represents the point at which one party is no longer bound by its’ contractual obligations and claims damages. Chapter 3 argued that though discharge goes beyond cancellation it does not cater for diverse domestic rules which need uniform international laws. Chapter 4 discussed and argued that avoidance is a term that was chosen by the CISG to end a contract when a fundamental breach occurs. There were problems on interpretation of terms and use of diverse domestic rules. The advantage of the term avoidance is that it is a technical term adopted and given a uniform meaning in the CISG where interpretation of terms and diverse domestic rules did not apply. Avoidance furthermore comprised concepts of rescission and termination. From the above it was argued that South Africa needs to develop new terms for termination of a contract and create new laws along the lines of the CISG. / Private Law / LL. M.

It is universally acknowledged that international trade and cooperation have become key drivers of SMEs. Indeed, the success of SMEs in the sales sector depends upon their capacity to conquer the foreign market and compete with larger companies. Many SMEs today, in particular those in Central and West Africa, are very much aware of this reality. However, because of differences between domestic laws and their maladjustment, many African SMEs still struggle to enter the international market and compete with larger companies. It is therefore obvious that any SMEs that want to succeed in international commerce today will be called upon to confront different regulations, whether domestic, regional or international, which are often shaped according to the realities and expectations of a particular environment. The challenge today is to regulate and harmonise these different legal systems, in order to render the law identical in numerous jurisdictions. This process of unifying the law internationally, in particular the law of sale, started in 1920 and culminated in 1988, with the implementation of the CISG. This Convention, which has become the primary law for international sales contracts, endeavours to deal with this problem of differences in law between states on a global scale, by attempting to achieve a synthesis between different legislations, such as civil law, common law, socialist law, and the law regarding industrialised and Third World countries. Even though the CISG appears to be a compromise between different legal systems, the fact remains that it is not yet applicable in many countries, especially those in Central and West Africa, which are mostly still ruled by domestic and regional law, namely the OHADA. The purpose of this study is to attempt to analyse and compare the OHADA’s Uniform Act Relating to Commercial Law to the CISG, in order to identify similarities and differences between the two, and to determine, with regard to the operating mode and structure of SMEs in West and Central Africa, which one of the two legislations is more appropriate. / Private Law / LL. M.