Joel Klaff is a senior law lecturer at the Law School of University of Derby where he teaches commercial law, sustainability and private international law on the LLB and LLM programmes. A graduate of the Universities of London and of Miami where he read law, Joel is engaged in Education for Sustainability and is a member of the University’s Committees on Student Attainment and the Environment and Sustainability.
Nachfrist a model remedy in an age of change
Abstract:
In this era typified by shifting national allegiances, reemergence of nationalist forces, isolationism, and disintegration of trade blocs, the value of pacta sunt servanda is paramount. Remedies such as nachfrist that help parties bridge their differences provide an essential lifeline, encouraging dialogue, cementing the relationship whilst at the same time helping ensure the longevity of commercial ties, saving the contracting parties and the economy at large, time, money, and resources, whilst reducing economic waste in trade.
In this Paper, we explore the benefits associated with this facility and ask whether it should become a more widely used remedy in international commercial deals. This Paper consists of three parts. In part one, we consider the principle of pacta sunt servanda before looking at enforceability under the CISG. In part two, we scrutinise nachfrist through the provisions of the CISG. And in the final part of this Paper, we emphasise how nachfrist bridges an important legal divide in an era of ever-increasing international trade whilst augmenting the commercial autonomy of the parties to cross-border business deals.