The UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts and the Internationalisation of Australasian Contract Law

This article explores and assesses Australasian courts’ complex and under-studied practice of using provisions of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (‘PICC’) to interpret or supplement domestic contract law. Through a comprehensive and nuanced analysis of all Australasian cases referring to the PICC, set in a context of calls for the ‘internationalisation’ of domestic contract law, the study delineates the patterns, implications and limitations of what is seen as a common law model of integrating individual PICC provisions incrementally into domestic contract law via the existing mechanics of case law. It is argued that such Australasian cases, although not great in number, demonstrate the desirability and viability of the above model, characterised by the flexibility of selective and piecemeal borrowing, and that the model should be fostered through, inter alia, greater judicial openness to and improved education and training on the PICC.