The respondent, as the seller/ supplier, signed the agreement in South Africa whereas the appellant, as the buyer/importer, signed the agreement in Zimbabwe.Where there are international aspects to a transaction, it is imperative that parties include clauses in the contract on both the governing law and jurisdiction, i.e. which country's ...
The respondent, as the seller/ supplier, signed the agreement in South Africa whereas the appellant, as the buyer/importer, signed the agreement in Zimbabwe.
Where there are international aspects to a transaction, it is imperative that parties include clauses in the contract on both the governing law and jurisdiction, i.e. which country's law shall govern the contract and in which country's courts will any dispute be finally decided....,.
There are varying factors that parties would have taken into account in deciding on the law to govern their contract.
The law chosen by the parties will generally be respected by the courts of the other country in the spirit of sanctity and freedom of contract.
A caveat to this general approach is that matters of public policy and mandatory laws of that other country may take precedence over governing law clauses, such as in the area of employment and exchange control regulations, which are in the category of directly applicable statutes that override the choice of law.
In C F FORSYTH: Private International Law, 5th Edition, Juta..., the author states:
“For the avoidance of doubt, it should be made quite clear that the directly applicable statutes of the forum, as discussed above, stand outside the choice of law process. They apply according to their terms irrespective of the law the parties have chosen to govern the contract.”
