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| Abstract | ||||||||||||||||||
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| A German seller and a Spanish buyer entered into a contract for the sale of sixty-eight head of cattle to be distributed for human consumption. Some of these, when delivered, were found to be in poor conditions and consequently unfit for their purpose. Thus, the buyer paid the price partially. The seller sued the buyer, claiming for the payment of the outstanding price, plus interest.
As to the applicable law, the Court held that, as the parties had their places of business in different States, the applicable law was to be determined according to the 1980 Rome Convention on the law applicable to contractual obligations. According to the criteria adopted in Art. 4(1) of that Convention, the sales contract is to be governed by the law of the place where the seller (the party bound to render the performance which is characteristic) has its habitual residence. Being that law the German law, CISG was to be applied. As to the merits, the Tribunal held that since the buyer alleged that the seller had delivered aliud-pro-alio, it had to provide evidence thereof, while the buyer failed to do so. Further, the buyer had neither contested the occurrence when it had received the cattle, nor given to the seller any formal notification of non-conformity as provided for by art. 39 CISG. Therefore, the Court found that the buyer had no right to a reduction of the price and ruled in favour of the seller. With respect to the claim for interest, the Court pointed out that for equitable reasons interest should accrue from the elapsing of the two-year period from the date on which the goods were actually handed over to the buyer (art. 39(2) CISG). |