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39 Va. J. Int'l L. 671 (1998-1999)
Novelty and the Risks of Uniform Sales Law

handle is hein.journals/vajint39 and id is 681 raw text is: Novelty and the Risks of Uniform Sales Law STEVEN WALT* TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction ................................................................................ 671 II. Novel Uniform Law: Preliminaries .......................................... 674 Ill. Novelty and Uncertain Uniform Law: The CISG .................. 676 IV. Three Sources of Suboptimal Implementation ...................... 683 A . A gency Costs ....................................................................... 685 B. Network Externalities ........................................................ 688 C. Learning Externalities ....................................................... 692 V . Som e Im plications ...................................................................... 698 V I. Conclusion .................................................................................. 704 I. INTRODUCTION Comparativists and law reformers tend to think that uniformity in international commercial law is a good thing. To them, a single set of applicable rules is considered to be a worthwhile goal. One reason is that uniform rules promote efficiency. Diverse national laws create legal costs of determining and complying with the laws of multiple jurisdictions. Ex post litigation costs of forum shop- ping and deciding sometimes difficult choice of law issues are also produced. Because uniform law subjects a transnational commer- cial transaction to a single set of rules, it reduces the legal costs as- * Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law. I am grateful to Clayton Gillette, Kevin Kordana, Frank Partnoy, Robert Scott, George Triantis and Christopher Wonnell for comments or discussions on an earlier draft of this paper. Nathaniel Pietela provided valuable research and suggestions. The usual dis- claimer applies.

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