U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods - The Open Price Term and Uniform Application: An Early Interpretation by the Hungarian Courts
![handle is hein.journals/jlac13 and id is 9 raw text is: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS: CISG
U.N. CONVENTION ON CONTRACTS FOR THE
INTERNATIONAL SALE OF GOODS-THE OPEN PRICE
TERM AND UNIFORM APPLICATION: AN EARLY
INTERPRETATION BY THE HUNGARIAN COURTS
I. INTRODUCTION
It has been over twelve years since the drafting of the United Na-
tions Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods
(CISG) was completed.' CISG's provisions, however, only became
effective in January 1988. As a result, the document is unfamiliar to its
signatories. At present, there are few court decisions interpreting
CISG, either in the United States or abroad-at the time this Note is
written, only one U.S. opinion exists.' It is the premise of this Note,
however, that decisions of foreign courts can prove educational now,
since there is so little actual interpretation of CISG, and in the future,
as a form of persuasive authority for domestic application of CISG.
Thus, the recently decided case of Pratt & Whitney v. Malev Hun-
garian Airlines3 is offered for examination. Decided by the Hungarian
Supreme Court in September of 1992, it implicates several issues in
CISG, including, among others, contract interpretation (Articles 7 and
8), the sufficiently definite offer (Article 14), and the supply of an open
price term (Article 55).
1. U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, Final Act, U.N. Doc.
A/CONF.97/18 (1980) [hereinafter CISG], reprinted in JOHN HONNOLD, DOCUMENTARY HISTORY
OF THE UNIFORM LAW FOR INTERNATIONAL SALES 764 (1989) [hereinafter HONNOLD,
DOCUMENTARY].
2. Filanto, S.p.A. v. Chilewich International Corp., 789 F. Supp. 1229 (S.D.N.Y. 1992). For
an interesting analysis of this case, see Ronald Brand & Harry Flechtner, Arbitration and Contract
Formation in International Trade: First Interpretations of the U.N. Sales Convention, 12 J.L. &
COM. 239 (1993).
3. Pratt & Whitney v. Malev Hungarian Airlines, Legfelsbb Bir6sdg, Gf. I. 31, 349/1992/9
(Dr. Lszl6 Szldvnits trans., 1992, reprinted in 13 J.L. & COM. - (1993) [hereinafter Malev].](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jlac13&div=7&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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