Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- List of Abbreviations
- 1 Ius Commune and the Principles of European Contract Law: Contemporary Renewal of an Old Idea
- 2 Good Faith
- 3 Offer, Acceptance, and the Moment of Contract Formation
- 4 The Battle of Forms
- 5 Agency
- 6 Threats and Excessive Benefits or Unfair Advantage
- 7 Interpretation
- 8 Third-Party Contracts
- 9 Payment
- 10 Specific Performance and Special Damages
- 11 Termination for Breach of Contract
- 12 Assignment
- 13 Capitalisation of Interest
- Appendix: The Principles of European Contract Law
- List of Cases
- Index
9 - Payment
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- List of Abbreviations
- 1 Ius Commune and the Principles of European Contract Law: Contemporary Renewal of an Old Idea
- 2 Good Faith
- 3 Offer, Acceptance, and the Moment of Contract Formation
- 4 The Battle of Forms
- 5 Agency
- 6 Threats and Excessive Benefits or Unfair Advantage
- 7 Interpretation
- 8 Third-Party Contracts
- 9 Payment
- 10 Specific Performance and Special Damages
- 11 Termination for Breach of Contract
- 12 Assignment
- 13 Capitalisation of Interest
- Appendix: The Principles of European Contract Law
- List of Cases
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 7 of PECL deals with the performance of obligations. The focus of this contribution is on the performance of a particular type of obligation, namely the obligation to pay money, or, in other words, on payment. Two questions relating to payment dealt with in PECL are considered here in comparative perspective namely: (1) the form and manner of payment; and (2) payment by a third party.
FORM AND MANNER OF PAYMENT
South African and Scots law
The point of departure in both South African and Scots law is that payment must be in legal tender, i.e. notes and coins. The amount that the creditor is compelled to accept in coin is, however, statutorily limited. A creditor may reject payment in foreign currency unless otherwise agreed in the contract. Despite being widely accepted in Scotland, Scottish bank notes are not legal tender, whether in Scotland or elsewhere in the United Kingdom. They are promissory notes widely accepted and negotiated.
Payment in cash, however, is very often unpractical and unusual. Various other manners of payment have developed in the course of time such as payment by cheque, credit card, and, mainly for payments in international contracts, letters of credit. Due to the widespread use of such alternative methods of payment it is somewhat divorced from reality to regard them as the exception and legal tender or money as the rule.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- European Contract LawScots and South African Perspectives, pp. 230 - 248Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2006