A Comparative Examination of the Promisee’s Duty to Cooperate in Performing the Obligation in Islamic Jurisprudence, Iranian Law and International Commercial Contracts

Abstract

The purpose of the parties in creating an obligation is performing it and performance of the obligation is undertaken by the promisor. However, there are cases in which either basically the performance of obligation without the cooperation of the promise is not possible or without his/her cooperation, the obligation will not be properly performed. Today, this issue is considered in international trade contracts. Accordingly, the main challenge of this article is to investigate the foundation of the promisee’s duty to cooperate in performing the obligation and its position in the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), Principles of International Commercial Contracts (UPICC), Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) and law of Iran. At the end of this article, it will be determined that this duty is stipulated in the UPICC and the PECL and has been implicitly addressed in article 60 of the CISG. Such a duty is not reaffirmed in Islamic jurisprudence and Iranian law. However, examples of the refusing the acceptance of performance according to the contract by the promise and a situation in which, due to the act of promise, the performance of the obligation becomes impossible are seen.

Keywords

• performance of the obligation
• cooperation of the promisee
• implementation of the contract
• good faith
• international commercial contracts