Case number: 53
Article number: sales convention / 14(1)
Thessaurs issue:
Country of decision: Hungary
Year of decision: 1992
Type of decision: Judicial decision

Case 53: CISG 14(1)
Hungary: Supreme Court Gf.I. 31.349/1992/9 25 September 1992
United Technologies International Inc. Pratt and Whitney Commercial Engine Business v. Magyar L‚gi K"zleked‚si V llalat
(Mal‚v Hungarian Airlines)
Original in Hungarian
Unpublished
Summary published in Italian: Diritto del commercio internazionale July-September 1993, 651
Commented on by Magnus in Zeitschrift f�r Europ„isches Privatrecht (ZEuP) 1993, 79

The plaintiff, an American manufacturer of aircraft engines, further to extensive negotiations with the defendant, a Hungarian
manufacturer of Tupolev aircraft, made two alternative offers of different types of aircraft engines without quoting an exact
price. The defendant chose a type of engine from the ones offered and placed an order. At issue was whether a valid contract
was concluded. The court of first instance held that a valid contract had been concluded on the ground that the offer indicated
the goods and made provision for determining the quantity and the price.

The Supreme Court found that the offer and the acceptance were vague and, as such, ineffective since they failed to explicitly
or implicitly fix or make provision for determining the price of the engines ordered (art. 14(1) CISG). The Supreme Court
considered that the acceptance was a mere expression of the intention of the defendant to conclude a contract for the purchase
of the engines chosen and, as such, the acceptance could not operate as a counter-offer. The Supreme Court therefore
overturned the decision of the court of first instance and held that there was no valid contract concluded.