ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the responsibility that has been vested with domestic courts. It aims to demonstrate how a court which aspires to shape transnational norms through its decisions is both allowed to do so and may do so through rational persuasion. The chapter argues that domestic courts, as a minimum, are required to engage in retrospective judicial dialogue, but also that domestic courts both have the power and opportunity to shape international uniform law in practice. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly established the UN Commission on International Trade Law as a tool to remove international legal barriers to trade through ‘the codification and wider acceptance’ of international trade terms, provisions and practices by way of uniform laws, conventions and model laws. Legal barriers to international commercial trade would deteriorate faster, commercial activity across borders would flow more freely and peaceful international relations would be cemented.
