Cross-border trade has increased dramatically in the last 30 years and consequently there is a greater need for harmonization of commercial law at international level. Obvious methods of creating transnational commercial law include international conventions and forms of soft law such as model laws, international restatements and contractually incorporated uniform rules. Harmonization may also occur more informally, such as where courts in one jurisdiction follow judicial decisions elsewhere. Yet the process of creating an international set of rules which transcend domestic law is fraught with difficulty. If a drafting group aims for simple statements of principle, these statements will be easier to translate into other languages and will appeal to the international business community. Yet, if principles are stated too baldly, there is a danger that the domestic courts in various countries will interpret the rules in different ways. A delicate balance has to be sought between simplicity and detail in order to ensure that legal rules are sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of different trades and to adjust to technological advances.
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