1. United States, The Office of the President, Handbook of Economic Statistics 1982, at 113–114; also Economic Report of the President (Feb. 1982) at 352; and the Bank for International Settlements, 51st Annual Report, 1981, at 77.Google Scholar

International capital transactions exceeded 100 billion U.S. dollars in 1979 according to the report of the National Foreign Assessment Center of the Central Intelligence Agency. See United States, The Office of the President, Handbook of Economic Statistics 1981, at 96.Google Scholar

2. Kahn, Herman, World Economic Development 1979 and Beyond (Westview Press, 1979), passim. This work represents the report of the Hudson Institute under the leadership of Herman Kahn to the International Chamber of Commerce.Google Scholar

3. The recent success of Japan in world trade has been extensively studied See, for example, Japanese Challenge to U.S. Industry by Baranson, Jack (Lexington Books, 1981) and The Japanese Challenge: The Success and Failure of Economic Success by Kahn, Herman and Passin, Herbert (T. Y. Crowell, 1979).Google Scholar

4. Gordon, Michael W.. Latin American Trade and Investment, 5th ed (University of Florida College of Law, 1979).Google Scholar

For a critical analysis of Latin America's current economic ills, see Novak, Michael, “Why Latin America Is Poor”, 249 Atlantic 66–75 (March 1982).Google Scholar

5. An estimated 120 billion U.S. dollars are transferred every day through the Clearing House Interbank Payments System (“Chips”) which has been set up as a joint facility by about 100 international banks. See The Economist, Oct. 2 1982 p. 84. Similar international fund transfers are conducted by the Society for Worldwide Inter-Bank Financial Telecommunications (“Swift”), another cooperative venture of international banks.Google Scholar

6. For example, new transportation techniques create opportunities for new freight arrangements. See International Chamber of Commerce, Guide to Incoterms, 1980 ed., p. 9. Methods and costs of transportation are changing rapidly as a result of technology. See “A Safe Voyage to a New World” by Thomas Busha and James Dawson in I Ocean Yearbook 217–239 (1978).Google Scholar

7. A good work on the subject is Kolde's, Endel J. International Business Enterprise, 2d ed. (Prentice-Hall, 1973).Google Scholar

8. In addition to the sources cited infra footnotes 19 and 21, a useful discussion of the various legal problems in international sales transactions may be found in International Contracts, edited by Smit, Hans, Galston, Nina M., and Levitsky, Serge L. (Matthew Bender, 1981); also Transnational Commercial Law by Langen, Eugen (Sijthoff, 1973). Valuable information of a general nature appears throughout the International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, an ongoing project of the International Association of Legal Science. For an excellent survey of the encyclopedia, see Adolf Sprudzs, “The International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law: A Bibliographic Status Report”, 28 American Journal of Comparative Law 93–104 (1980).Google Scholar

There are many random writings on the various areas of law pertaining to international contracts. Unfortunately, the coverage is not systematic. Some areas of law are served better than others. The information is not always uniformly current, and updating can be very difficult.Google Scholar

This is not an appropriate place for a complete listing of such publications. However, here is a sample of recent literature to illustrate the variety of the materials:Google Scholar

Dalhuisen, Jan H., Dalhuisen on International Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Matthew Bender, 1980). 2 vols., looseleaf. “Symposium on Securities and Insolvency” 44 Rabel's Zeitschrift fur ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht 615–806 (1980).Google Scholar

Brookhart, Walter R. et al., eds. Current International Legal Aspects of Licensing and Intellectual Property (American Bar Association, 1980).Google Scholar

Tebbens, Harry D., International Product Liability (Sijthoff and Noordhoff, 1979).Google Scholar

Fugate, Wilbur L., Foreign Commerce and the Antitrust Laws, 3d ed. (Little, Brown and Co., 1982), 2 vols.Google Scholar

Wood, Philip, Law and Practice of International Finance (Clark Boardman Co., 1981).Google Scholar

Pennington, Robert R. and Woodridge, Frank, Company Law in the European Communities, 3d ed. (Oyez, 1982).Google Scholar

Feller, Peter B., U.S. Customs and International Trade Guide (Matthew Bender, 1979), 4 vols., looseleaf.Google Scholar

Ramsay, R. A., “The Organization of Shipping”, I Ocean Yearbook 211–216 (1978).Google Scholar

Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Guide for International Operations, Jan. 26, 1977 (revised Mar. 1, 1977).Google Scholar

U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs. The Operations of U. S. Banks in the International Capital Markets. 98th Cong., 1st Session (Dec, 1979), Committee Print 98–9.Google Scholar

For a more detailed listing of books and articles in the English language, see Charles Szladits’ superb Bibliography on Foreign and Comparative Law: Books and Articles in English (published by Oceana since 1962 and covering materials since 1953). This bibliography is continuously cumulated and supplemented. The most recent supplements appear in the American Journal of Comparative Law. For recent books on international business law, see “Books Received” and “Books Noted” lists compiled by Adolf Sprudzs and published in every issue of the International Journal of Legal Information. Google Scholar

Government documents and other non-commercial publications on international business transactions are more difficult to identify and locate. There are no continuing bibliographic lists which concentrate on this topic, though some information may be gleaned from the lists of source materials and documents in Foreign Affairs and Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht. Google Scholar

Some of the staple domestic law treatises may also have useful information on legal topics of international trade, e.g., Benedict on Admiralty (a multivolume work, continuously supplemented, now in the 7th ed., published by Matthew Bender 1981).Google Scholar

9. See a more exhaustive survey of the various types of transactions in Part I of International Business Planning: Law and Taxation (United States) by Streng, William P. and Selacuse, Jeswold W. (Matthew Bender, 1982).Google Scholar

10. Joerges, Christian, “Vorüberlegungen zu einer Theorie des internationalen Wirtschaftsrechts”, 43 Rabels Zeitschrift für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht 6–79 (1979).Google Scholar

11. E.g., International Economic Indicators, a monthly publication issued by the Industry and Trade Administration of the United States Department of Commerce; Overseas Business Reports, issued by the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce; Summary of U.S. Export and Import Merchandise Trade, issued by the Bureau of the Census of the U.S. Department of Commerce; Annual Reports of the President of the United States on the Trade Agreements Program; Special Reports issued by the Bureau of Public Affairs of the U.S. Department of State; U.S. International Transactions and Currency Review, issued periodically by the Federal Reserve Bank; Selected Economic Data for the Less Developed Countries, prepared by the Agency for International Development; Comercio Exterior, a monthly publication of the Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior, Mexico, available in an English-language edition.Google Scholar

12. It is not unusual for an article on any topic relating to international business law to rely simultaneously on the legislation and case law of several countries, government documents, records and other publications of several international organizations, conference reports and papers, treatises, journals and newspaper articles, and other sources. For a typical example, see Jonathan I. Charney, “Technology and International Negotiations”, 76 American Journal of International Law 78–118 (1982).Google Scholar

13. For a discussion of government involvement in international trade, see the annual administrative surveys in Law and Policy in International Business, a law review published by the George Washington University School of Law. See also Bertsch, Gary K., “U.S. Export Controls: The 1970's and Beyond”, 15 Journal of World Trade Law 67–82 (1981), and Abbott, Kenneth W., “Linking Trade to Political Goals: Foreign Policy Export Controls in the 1970's and 1980's”, 65 Minnesota Law Review 739–889 (1981).Google Scholar

14. See Legal Problems of Codes of Conduct for Multinational Enterprises, ed. by Horn, Norbert (Kluwer, 1980).Google Scholar

15. The U.S. Treasury regulations concerning the freezing of Iranian assets in 1980 may be found, inter alia, in 19 International Legal Materials 514–523 (1980).Google Scholar

16. E.g., GATT Activities, an annual report of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.Google Scholar

17. An internationally uniform law in the field of trade and commerce accepted with the least amount of difficulty is the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958 (TIAS 6997, 21 UST 2517, 330 UNTS 3). See Treaties in Force, issued annually by the United States Department of State.Google Scholar

There are many draft codes for different areas of commerce—sales, agency, negotiable instruments, carriage of goods, etc.—but there is a reluctance to accept them as binding rules. At least lour organizations are permanently engaged in the drafting of uniform international laws: the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in Vienna, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) in Rome, the Hague Conference on Private International Law, and the European Communities. See “Unification of International Trade Law”, ed. by John Honnold, in 27 American Journal of Comparative Law, 201–563 (1979).Google Scholar

18. The texts of such laws are not always easy to find. Some of these laws may be available in English in the Digest of the Commercial Laws of the World, published by Oceana for the National Association of Credit Management, or in the Commercial Laws of the World, a publication of the Foreign Tax Law Association, Inc.Google Scholar

19. Schmitthoff's Export Trade: The Law and Practice of International Trade by Schmitthoff, Clive M.. One of the first and best works on the subject, it is now in its 7th edition, published by Stevens and Son, 1980.Google Scholar

International Business Planning: Law and Taxation (United States) by Streng, William P. and Salacuse, Jeswold W. (Matthew Bender, 1982). 3 vols., looseleaf.Google Scholar

Guide to International Commercial Law by Vishny, Paul H. (Shepard's/McGraw-Hill, 1981). 1 vol., looseleaf.Google Scholar

The Law of Transnational Business Transactions, edited by Nanda, Ved P. (Clark Boardman Co., 1981), 1 vol. looseleaf.Google Scholar

The monumental but as yet unfinished A Lawyer's Guide to International Business Transactions, 2d ed., edited by Surrey, Walter Sterling and Wallace, Don Jr. (American Law Institute-American Bar Association, 1977–), 4 vols. (Vols. 1, 2 and 4 are complete, but only some chapters of Vol. 3 have been published so far in pamphlet form).Google Scholar

20. Among the first were Schmitthoff's Export Trade (see note 19), with the first edition published in 1948, and Legal Problems of International Trade, a collection of essays edited by Proehl, Paul O. (published by the University of Illinois Press, 1959). The Legal Framework of World Trade by Muhammad, V. A. Seyid (Frederick A. Praeger, 1958) is another classic.Google Scholar

21. For recent examples, in addition to the works listed in footnote 8, see How to Recover for Loss or Damage to Goods in Transit by Sorkin, Saul (Matthew Bender, 1976)—a looseleaf treatise in two volumes; Exchange and Trade Controls by Swidrowski, Jozef (Gower Press Ltd., 1975)—an excellent monograph on an obscure subject; also International Banking by Stenber, Ursel (Sijthoff, 1975); and the Hamburg Rules on the Carriage of Goods by Sea, edited by Mankabady, Samir (Sijthoff, 1978).Google Scholar

Useful publications are issued in pamphlet form. For example, U.S. Corporations Doing Business Abroad, a publication in the Information Guide series issued by Price and Waterhouse. Another accounting firm, Delloite, Haskins and Sells, publishes the Doing Business in …. series. Similar series are also published by the Practice Law Institute and the International Law Section of the American Bar Association.Google Scholar

The Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) publishes an International Trade Reporter as a looseleaf service with miscellaneous information relevant to exports and imports. In its Tax Management Portfolios, BNA also publishes useful surveys of selected areas of international business law; for example, Doing Business with the International Development Organizations in Washington, D.C. (Pamphlet No. 168-5th, 1982).Google Scholar

22. Many journals specialize in international business law, but practically all law reviews and other periodicals will occasionally publish articles on the legal issues of international business law. See “A Survey of Recent Periodical Articles in International Business and Law”, 10 International Journal of Legal Information 49–66 (1982).Google Scholar

23. For example, An Introduction to Contract Procedures in the Near East and North Africa by Cheric A. Loustaunau (U.S. Department of Commerce Industry and Trade Administration, 1978); International Monetary Fund, Selected Decisions of the International Monetary Fund and Selected Documents, 9th ed (1981); Foreign Regulations Affecting U.S. Textile/Apparel Exports (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1977).Google Scholar

24. E.g., Lexis, Westlaw, Eurolex, etc.Google Scholar

25. For example, Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, Current Legal Index, Index to Legal Periodicals, Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature, Public International Law: A Current Bibliography of Articles, etc.Google Scholar

26. E.g., Dialogue or Mead Corporation's Nexis.Google Scholar

27. Harvard Law School Library, Annual Legal Bibliography (ceased publication with Vol. 21 in 1981).Google Scholar

28. A useful continuing bibliography, though selective in scope, is Charles Szladits’ A Bibliography on Foreign and Comparative Law: Books and Articles in English 1953– (published by Oceana since 1962), with current updates in the American Journal of Comparative Law. These updates are cumulated into volumes of the Bibliography.Google Scholar

29. E.g., Adolf Sprudzs, “Selected Bibliography on International Trade, Investment, and Organization”, 1965 University of Illinois Law Forum 872–900 (1965); Chin Kim, “A Lawyer's Guide to Overseas Trading and Investment; Sources in English”, 7 The Journal of International Law and Economics (George Washington University Law Center) 115–166 (1972); Julius J. Marke, “International Law: An Annotated Bibliography”, 1978 Annual Survey of American Law 55–159 (1978); Charles Szladits, “International and Foreign Law Sources in English for the Businessman and the Business Lawyer”, Digest of the Commercial Laws of the World, Vol. 1; “International Law: Bibliographic Notes”, 15 The Journal of International Law and Economics 33–321 (1981).Google Scholar

30. E.g., Sutton, A. M., “Selected Bibliography on Foreign Investments and International Law”, in Georg Schwarzenberger, Foreign Investments and International Law (Praeger, 1969); “Multinational Trade Agreements Symposium: Bibliography”, 12 Law and Policy in International Business iii–xxviii (1980); “A Selective Bibliography of East-West Commercial Relations”, 37 Law and Contemporary Problems 682–697 (1972). Germain, Claire M., “European Community Law—A Selective Bibliography of Publications in English, French and German”, 8 International Journal of Law Libraries 239–281 (1980). Protti, Marion E., “Foreign Investments in the United States, 1976–1980: A Selected Annotated Bibliography”, 17 Stanford Journal of International Law 83–97 (1981). Hood, Howard A., “Extraterritorial Application of U.S. Antitrust Laws: A Selective Bibliography”, 15 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 765–785 (Fall 1982).Google Scholar

31. E.g., United States Treaties and Other International Agreements Cumulative Index Series, 1776-present (William S. Hein & Co.). 1776–1949, ed. by Kavass, Igor I. and Michael, Mark A. (4 vols. 1975). 1950–1970 (4 volumes, 1973); 1971–1975 (1 vol., 1977); UST Indexing Service (looseleaf, 1976–) ed. by Kavass, Igor I. and Sprudzs, Adolf. Supplemented by Current Treaty Index, also edited by Kavass and Sprudzs, an annual volume on the most recent United States treaties and agreements published in pamphlet form. These volumes present cumulated numerical lists, chronological, country, and subject indices to the entire body of United States treaty law.Google Scholar

See also United States Legislation on Foreign Relations and International Commerce 1789–1969, ed. by Kavass, Igor I. and Blake, Michael J. (Hein, William S. & Co., 1977, 1978), 4 vols.Google Scholar

32. See Reynolds, Thomas H., “Foreign Commercial Legislation in English”, 69 Law Library Journal 41–59 (1976). See also the biweekly Bulletin of Legal Developments, published by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.Google Scholar

33. E.g., Lexis, Westlaw, Eurolex, etc.Google Scholar

34. See Dimitrov, Th. D., World Bibliography of International Documentation (Unifo Publishers Ltd., 1981) 2 vols.; Alexine L. Atherton, International Organizations: A Guide to Information Sources (Gale Research Co., 1976).Google Scholar

For a continuing bibliographic source, see International Bibliography, Information, Documentation, published by Unipub.Google Scholar

35. E.g., UNCTAD, Guide to UNCTAD Publications, 1981 (United Nations 1982); The World Bank, Catalog of Publications 1983; UNIPUB Bulletin/New Publications, bimonthly catalog.Google Scholar

36. Berman, Harold J. and Kaufman, Colin K., “The Law of the International Commercial Transaction”, 19 Harvard International Law Journal 221–277 (1978). Useful information also appears in the Credit Manual of Commercial Laws, an annual publication of the National Association of Credit Management.Google Scholar