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12 Unif. L. Rev. n.s. 101 (2007)
Contracts: Force Majeure Concept or Force Majeure Clauses

handle is hein.journals/droit2007 and id is 103 raw text is: Contracts: Force Majeure Concept or Force Majeure Clauses? Marel Katsivela * I. - INTRODUCTION Whether domestic or international, excuse doctrines or clauses play an important role in protecting contracting parties. Such doctrines or clauses render fulfilment of contractual obligations actually or virtually impossible, excusing performance under a contract. The civil law force majeure concept, the common law frustration doctrine as well as contractual force majeure clauses may have this effect on contracts. The civil law force majeure concept and force majeure clauses will be the main focus of this article. Our study will be geographically limited to France, the Canadian province of Quebec and Greece for civil law jurisdictions and the United States and England for common law systems. Although the principles that appear in the present article may apply by analogy to other areas of law, the main interest of our analysis will be obligations arising out of contractual provisions. Once the comparative legal analysis is completed we will examine international legal documents (Article 7.1.7 of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts and the ICC model force majeure clause 2003) that frequently apply at the international level in this context. II. - FORCE MAJEURE UNDER CIVIL LAW The concept of force majeure (superior force) 1 has its origins in Roman law. Under the name vis major or vis divina, Roman law designated • Assistant Professor, College of the Bahamas, University of West Indies. 1 While the term force majeure is much used in English-speaking countries, its English equivalent, described as 'superior force in the English translation of the Quebec Civil Code does not appear to be in common use in the English-speaking world. John O'CONNOR, Force Majeure, Frustration and Exception Clauses, < http://www.amac.ca/8-JOConnor.pdf> (visited 5 Jan. 2007). Rev. dr. unif. 2007 101

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