International Sale of Goods

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2013:

Applicants without legal qualifications should note that subjects are offered in the discipline of law at an advanced graduate level. While every effort will be made to meet the needs of students trained in other fields, concessions will not be made in the general level of instruction or assessment. Most subjects assume the knowledge usually acquired in a degree in law (LLB, JD or equivalent). Applicants should note that admission to some subjects in the Melbourne Law Masters will be dependent upon the individual applicant’s educational background and professional experience.

The Melbourne Law Masters welcomes applications from students with disabilities. The inherent academic requirements for study in the Melbourne Law Masters are:

• The ability to attend a minimum of 75% of classes and actively engage in the analysis and critique of complex materials and debate;
• The ability to read, analyse and comprehend complex written legal materials and complex interdisciplinary materials;
• The ability to clearly and independently communicate in writing a knowledge and application of legal principles and interdisciplinary materials and to critically evaluate these;
• The ability to clearly and independently communicate orally a knowledge and application of legal principles and interdisciplinary materials and critically evaluate these;
• The ability to work independently and as a part of a group;
• The ability to present orally and in writing legal analysis to a professional standard.

Students who feel their disability will inhibit them from meeting these inherent academic requirements are encouraged to contact the Disability Liaison Unit: www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

Although international sales of goods are in some respects similar to domestic sales, the distance that the goods must usually travel from seller to buyer and the time taken to travel that distance create many legal and practical issues, both for the seller’s obligations in relation to the goods and the buyer’s obligations in relation to payment. Choice of law is always an important issue in any international transaction, but an impressive degree of international uniformity of sales law has been achieved as a result of the widespread adoption of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The goal of this subject is to introduce students to the special issues raised by international sales, and the operation of the international instruments that have been developed to provide uniform solutions to those issues.

Principal topics will include:

• The passing of title to, and risk in, the goods
• Allocation of responsibility for arranging carriage and insurance
• The relationship between the carriage and insurance contracts and the sale contract
• Export and import licences
• How and when payment is to be made for the goods
• The International Chamber of Commerce Incoterms 2000
• The application and content of the UN Convention on the International Sales of Goods (CISG)
• Non-conformity of goods and the buyer’s remedies
• Documentary letters of credit and documentary collection
• Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits 2007 (UCP 600)
• Conflict of laws background relating to choice of law in contract and property matters.

A student who has successfully completed this subject should:

• Have an awareness of issues that should be addressed in a contract for the international sale of goods
• Have an informed, contextual understanding of international trading in commodities
• Understand the importance of integrated contracts within a commercial network of contracts
• Understand the letter of credit payment system
• Understand the significance of harmonised and uniform law and be aware of the distinctive character of such law outside the identity of conventional national law.

Take-home examination (100%) (5–8 April)

or

10,000 word research paper (100%) (8 May) on a topic approved by the subject coordinator

Core subject materials will be provided free of charge to all students. Some subjects require further texts to be purchased. Visit the Melbourne Law Masters website for more information about this subject.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.