ABSTRACT
The law of contracts is the central theme of Harold J. Berman's writing on international trade. He emphasized that a lawyer advising a company planning a joint venture needed broad knowledge of the Soviet political, economic, legal, and foreign trade systems. Professor Berman's understanding of the history of the development of international trade law by the merchant community led him to become one of the strongest critics of the Uniform Law on the International Sale of Goods and the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods. The Foreign Trade Arbitra tion Commission was "attached to" the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Harold Berman's work in many areas of the law of international trade derives from his belief in the importance of law in the development of a world order and more particularly in his belief that such a development must be rooted in the customary law of transnational communities.
