Transfer of ownership in international sales of goods
type: CreativeWork
description: This thesis deals with how ownership is transferred in connection with international sale contracts. It shows what stumbling blocks might be avoided by observing peculiarities of the law applicable to an international sales contract and especially to the transfer of ownership. Thereby, the following legal systems will be taken into consideration: Lex Mercatoria, Swiss Law, South African Law and English Law. The aim of every domestic and international sales contract is to pass the property of goods from one contract party to the other contract party against the payment of a certain price. Contracts of sales whether written, oral or simple because of a conclusive behaviour are always the basis for transfer of ownership. Every international sales contract is governed by a particular national law or by the so called Lex Mercatoria. Since it is in the parties' autonomy to choose the law governing the contract (freedom of choice) it is critical to know what consequence this choice has on transferring the property, or whether this choice has a consequence at all. International sales contracts mean contracts where parties of different countries are involved. Internationality is defined in Article 1 (1) of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (hereinafter: CISG) as: "This convention applies to contract of sales of goods between parties whose places of business are in different states" . The obligations of the seller and the buyer are stated in Article 30 and 53 CISG. "The seller must deliver the goods, hand over any documents relating to them and transfer the property as required by the contract and this Convention." "The buyer must pay the price for the goods and take delivery of them as required by the contract and this Convention". Section 2 (1) of the English Sale of Goods Act 1979 defines a contract for the sale of goods as: " a contract by which the seller transfers or agrees to transfer the property in goods to the buyer for a…
abstract: This thesis deals with how ownership is transferred in connection with international sale contracts. It shows what stumbling blocks might be avoided by observing peculiarities of the law applicable to an international sales contract and especially to the transfer of ownership. Thereby, the following legal systems will be taken into consideration: Lex Mercatoria, Swiss Law, South African Law and English Law. The aim of every domestic and international sales contract is to pass the property of goods from one contract party to the other contract party against the payment of a certain price. Contracts of sales whether written, oral or simple because of a conclusive behaviour are always the basis for transfer of ownership. Every international sales contract is governed by a particular national law or by the so called Lex Mercatoria. Since it is in the parties' autonomy to choose the law governing the contract (freedom of choice) it is critical to know what consequence this choice has on transferring the property, or whether this choice has a consequence at all. International sales contracts mean contracts where parties of different countries are involved. Internationality is defined in Article 1 (1) of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (hereinafter: CISG) as: "This convention applies to contract of sales of goods between parties whose places of business are in different states" . The obligations of the seller and the buyer are stated in Article 30 and 53 CISG. "The seller must deliver the goods, hand over any documents relating to them and transfer the property as required by the contract and this Convention." "The buyer must pay the price for the goods and take delivery of them as required by the contract and this Convention". Section 2 (1) of the English Sale of Goods Act 1979 defines a contract for the sale of goods as: " a contract by which the seller transfers or agrees to transfer the property in goods to the buyer for a…
author: Laemmli, Thomas
language: en
date published: 2014-07-30
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:17Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Intellectual Property Research Unit

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/4434