A New Challenge for Commercial Practitioners: Making the Most of Shared Laws and Their ‘Jurisconsultorium’

Abstract

This article will examine the concept of uniformity in law in a commercial context, focusing on notions of textual and applied uniformity. The article will then introduce the concept of a ‘global jurisconsultorium’, before analysing the possibilities and duties which shared laws present for practitioners, in an attempt to answer the question: How can practitioners navigate the jungles of uniform transnational commercial laws to their advantage? This article will use the 1980 United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (‘CISG’) as an example of a widespread uniform law which directly affects commercial practitioners in Australia, and its jurisconsultorium in theory and practice.