ICC Arbitration 1/91

International contract for sale of goods - No express choice of law - Factors relevant for determining proper law

The parties had concluded a contract for the sale of goods c.i.f. a named French port. The buyers were a company registered in the Netherlands Antilles and had used an English associated company to negotiate the contract. The contract did not contain any express choice of law clause and none was to be inferred. It was therefore necessary to look for the system of law with which the transaction had its closest and most real connection.