Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Fraud Exception'

Underpinning the law on documentary credits and independent guarantees is a legal principle of autonomy which dictates that these financial instruments should, as a matter of law, be treated separately from a trader’s contractual agreement. However, despite this, fraudulent behaviour may still occur when these financial and legal instruments are used in practice. In response, a fraud exception to the autonomy principle has been recognised by many national and international courts in an attempt to mitigate the effects of fraudulent trade practices. The application of this exception within the English courts is, however, problematic owing to the narrowness of its construction and application. Additionally, the paucity of alternate legal instruments for regulating fraudulent trade practices means that Jordanian courts are not in any better position than their English counterparts, leaving traders confused as to their legal position when a fraud dispute arises. Given the large financial value of fraudulent transactions and the risks involved, the use of these legal instruments has declined as has the banks’ investment in this area creating a problem for legal policy makers. The aim of this dissertation is to, first, critically examine the fraud exception under English and Jordanian law by exploring the problems associated with the application of the fraud exception; and, second, to propose legal reforms which would alleviate both the legal and practical problems associated with the fraud exception as it stands currently. The thesis is that, whilst the autonomy principle plays a vital role in international trade, the courts should facilitate the fraud exception application and recognise other exceptions, such as the non-genuinity and the underlying contract exception, where the former exception would be unable to prevent fraud occurrence. The approach is based upon a critical evaluation of Anglo-American and Jordanian case law, supplemented by secondary sources and a qualitative examination of the Jordanian approach to the fraud exception based upon interviews with Jordanian judges. The dissertation concludes that an effective legal approach to fraudulent transactions using documentary credits and independent guarantees must be founded upon objective rather than subjective principles and that the courts’ use of injunctions should be different in cases involving holders in due course from those not involving such parties. These findings will impact upon legal policy debates within both English common law and international trade law more generally and the examination of the Jordanian position is instructive in that it is the first such study of its kind.

This thesis deals with the fraud exception rule of letters of credit, especially focusing on the proposed amendments in Chinese credit system based on a comparative study. In order to reasonably prevent fraud in letters of credit, and to protect the effectiveness and efficiency of credit system, this thesis firstly examines the premise, reasons and foundations of the fraud exception rule, and then analyses its legal philosophy, application criteria and judicial remedies. Finally, based on a comparative study of different domestic laws and the UCP rules, this thesis examines the existing defects and provides proposed amendments of the Chinese credit system in both procedure law and substantive law. In developing this thesis, the author plans to employ comparative, critical, theoretical and prescriptive methodologies.
Cette thèse traite de la règle de l'exception de fraude des lettres de crédit, et se concentre plus particulièrement sur les amendements proposés dans le système de crédit chinois sur base d'une étude comparative. Afin de prévenir la fraude dans les lettres de crédit, et de protéger l'efficacité du système de crédit, cette thèse examine tout d'abord les raisons de la création de la règle d'exception de fraude et analyse ensuite sa philosophie légale, ses critères d'application et les remèdes judiciaires. Finalement, dans un troisième temps, les défauts existants sont analysés sur base d'une étude comparative de différentes lois domestiques et de règles UCP et les amendements proposés dans le système de crédit chinois à la fois en loi procédurale et loi substantive sont détaillés. L'auteur prévoit d'utiliser des méthodologies comparatives, critiques, théoriques et prescriptives pour aborder ces différentes questions. fr

The documentary letters of credit transaction is the most common method of payment for goods in international trade. Its use has been considered so important that it is referred to as the �lifeblood� of international commerce. The purpose of this thesis is, through analysing the present regime of documentary credit established under the The Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits, 1993 Revision (�UCP�), to identify the rights and duties of all parties in such transactions and the reasons for the frequent occurrence of fraudulent activities associated with the documents required under the credits. It identifies that the present system fails to either encourage or implement substantial realisation of �reasonable care� or �good faith� on the part of the banks, or realisation of the requirement of �good faith� from beneficiaries. As a result, the independence principle has been left without substance, with resulting huge opportunities for fraudsters to cheat on the documents and obtain payment without the need to actually perform their duties to banks and buyers. Such issues have become more acute against the background of an underlying shift in the allocation of risk between the respective parties to letters of credit. There has been a depreciation in the value of the primary document of title and security held by the issue, the bill of lading, with the advent of container shipping. As the letter of credit system is wholly dependent on the integrity of the documents, it is being undermined by these developments. This has represented a shift in the traditional scheme of risk allocation from the seller to the bank. In practice, banks have taken countermeasures by insisting that applicants provide other types of collateral, and by subjecting applicants to rigorous credit checks. Thus, applicants ultimately have had to bear the brunt of costs associated with this reallocation of risk. It will be demonstrated that the UCP does not incorporate adequate or clear enough duties to be exercised on the part of issuers toward applicants, and severely restricts the applicant�s right to sue if the issuer has wrongfully honoured. Ultimately, a balance must be struck between the desirability of protecting the applicant from the beneficiary�s fraud against the benefits gained by maintaining the letter of credit as a commercial instrument and business device. Obviously, there is public interest in protecting both of these commercial values. This thesis advocates that a mechanism in addition to the fraud exception must be introduced to safeguard the system against the ramifications of these changes � increased fraud. The thesis is structured into five chapters. Chapter 1 sets out to demonstrate the circumstances under which the respective risks are borne by each participant in the letter of credit transaction, and how developments in trade practice have caused the burden of certain of these risks among the parties to a letter of credit transaction to shift. Chapter 2, after briefly visiting the historical origins of the letter of credit and the birth of the UCP, explores the implications of the dominance of banking interests over the drafting and interpretation of the UCP, how the UCP has in practice excluded the intrusion of other sources of law and the general reluctance of courts to intervene by applying non-letter of credit principles, the implication of the UCP�s assumption of the law in practice, the resulting marginalisation of local laws, and the inequality in bargaining power between banks and applicants that precludes a choice of law other than the UCP. Chapter 3 explores the independence principle and question of documentary compliance, why the system is ridden with non-compliant documents and the lack of incentive and meaningful duty for the banks to check for �red flags� that may indicate fraud on the documents or in the transaction. It will be emphasised that documentary validity, rather than mere documentary compliance, should be the focus under the letter of credit. Chapter 4 examines the fraud exception to the independence principle, the typical high thresholds of proof that applicants had to overcome to estopp payment, and explores recent trends towards the gradual lowering of such thresholds. Finally, Chapter 5 considers practical measures and proposals for reform that would help to redress the imbalance in the allocation of risk identified in the thesis.

The thesis covers aspects of the law relating to letters of credit. It deals with the operation of letters of credit with particular reference to the doctrine of strict compliance, the principle of independence, the fraud exception and conflict of laws. According to the principle of independence, banks must make payment in terms of the letter of credit irrespective of any dispute that may exist between the buyer and the seller in an underlying contract or other contracts. Although the principle of independence is clearly established, it is not absolute. An exception occurs in the case of fraud. Thus, if the seller has committed fraud, such as tendering forged documents, the buyer can instruct the bank not to make payment in terms of the credit. If the bank refuses to dishonour the letter of credit, the buyer can apply to a court to interdict the bank from making payment. In South African law the buyer must establish that the seller was party to fraud in relation to the documents presented to the bank for payment before the court can grant an interdict. This thesis also examines the standard of proof of fraud required in letters of credit transactions and proposes a standard of proof which will not unduly favour the seller whose good faith is in dispute. The fast growing technology of computers and telecommunications is rapidly changing the methods of transacting business by paper documentation and letter of credit transactions are no exception. At present the buyer can apply to the bank to issue a letter of credit through the computer and banks also communicate letter of credit transactions through computer networks. However, the beneficiary still has to present documents to the bank for payment in paper form. It is proposed that the Uniform Custom and Practice For Documentary Credits (UCP) be amended to provide for fully computerised letters of credit transactions. Another objective of the thesis is to examine the doctrine of strict compliance. In terms of the doctrine of strict compliance documents presented under the credit must comply strictly with the requirements set out in the credit. If banks are satisfied that the documents presented by the seller strictly conform with the requirements of the credit they are obliged to make payment as required by the credit. It is proposed that the doctrine of strict compliance should not be applied strictly. In other words, the banks should make payment in terms of the credit if the discrepancy in the documents is trivial. The thesis also covers conflict of laws issues. As the UCP does not have rules dealing with conflict of laws, most jurisdictions have developed their own rules to be applied by the courts in cases of conflict of laws. The thesis examines the different rules of conflict of laws as developed and practiced by different jurisdictions.

It is a well-known fact that international trade contracts bear inherently more risk than the trade contracts entered by the parties from the same country. This is due to the differences in business methods and practices used, trade cultures of the parties involved, laws and regulations in the respective jurisdictions. Under these circumstances, it is very important for the seller to have the assurance of that he receives the payment for the goods dispatched and for the buyer to receive the goods what has been ordered. One effective way of having such an assurance is to rely on a letter of credit as an international payment method. But for exporters in particular, this payment method has presented difficulties in meeting the compliance requirements necessary for the payment to be triggered. The UCP 600 published by the International Chamber of Commerce provide the rules that govern letters of credit transactions. At the introduction of the UCP 600, it was aimed to remove wording that could lead to inconsistent application and interpretation, as against the language and style used in the previous version, namely the UCP 500. Highlighting the experiences under UCP 500, the ultimate focus of the revision of the UCP was to minimise the level of litigations that had arisen under the rules provided in the UCP. In several surveys, it has been reported that, nearly 50% of the first presentation for payment under letters of credit are rejected by the banks. This situation implies the fact that the provisions which cover letters of credit transactions are not either clear enough or well understood by the parties involved. Similarly, the decisions made by Courts around the world on issues related to letters of credit have taken different approaches when applying and interpreting the rules. This can clearly be seen by a myriad of controversial judicial standards which have been applied to similar mistakes in documents presented to the bank for payment. This thesis is an investigation into those issues to find out the optimal standards that could be applied to solve the said problems. In doing so, this thesis will strive to ascertain what remedial measures could be taken to address the issues related to examination of documents, the rejection of payment and fraud exception. Key words: International Trade, International Trade Law, Law of Letters of Credit, Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credit 600, Examination of Documents and communicating the decision.

The aim of this dissertation is to recommend an alternative approach to the fraud exception in South African law. The Current South African position as with the English law, places more weight on upholding the sanctity of the autonomy principle in letters of credit than preventing fraud. This is mainly because the courts have traditionally taken the view that protection of the autonomy principle is central to promoting the needs of trade and maintaining the integrity of the international banking community. Hence, this dissertation argues that an approach to the fraud exception in South African law that is more in line with that of the American law and/or the UNCITRAL Convention strikes a better balance in upholding the value of letters of credit and combatting fraud than the current South African position. Based on the comparative analysis of the position in the United Kingdom, United States of America and under the UNCITRAL Convention, the dissertation seeks to draw upon important lessons and principles pivotal to a preferable approach to the fraud exception in South African law that would enhance a better balance between the autonomy arguments and deterrence of fraud.

El comercio internacional ha sido siempre un ámbito conflictivo. Cualquier persona puede aproximarse a él desde una perspectiva determinada. Sin embargo, es innegable que condiciona la vida diaria de todos nosotros. De ahí que se utilicen todo tipo de recursos humanos para desarrollarlo a nivel mundial. La cuestión normativa ha sido uno de los temas más debatidos en el comercio internacional, entre otros muchos, existiendo muchas discusiones entre prácticos del derecho, empresarios, gobiernos así como académicos. Las raíces del conflicto pueden encontrarse en la existencia de sistemas jurídicos diferentes, normativas, terminología, costumbres, tecnología y métodos de pago diferentes, en ausencia de una autoridad mundial. No obstante, mientras tratamos los aspectos regulatorios del comercio internacional, no debemos olvidar el lado oscuro de los negocios, en el que los infractores dolosamente usan las tecnologías más avanzadas para defraudar a otros en el curso de transacciones globales. El crédito documentario es uno de los métodos de pago más populares en las operaciones transfronterizas. La clave de su éxito es que reduce el riesgo de los exportadores al reemplazar los compromisos financieros con una garantía de pago de un banco. Enmarcado en un proceso complejo, el banco se obliga a honrar la presentación, por parte del vendedor, de documentos que reúnen los requisitos del crédito en nombre del comprador solvente, quien compensará al banco en base al contrato. A través de la aplicación de los dos principios de autonomía y cumplimiento estricto, el crédito documentario mitiga el riesgo comercial existente entre un comprador y un vendedor que están en Estados diferentes y carecen de información sobre la capacidad financiera de su contraparte. En virtud del principio de autonomía, el crédito es separado del contrato de venta subyacente y el banco pagará al beneficiario que presente los documentos requeridos, incluso en caso de disputa sobre la relación subyacente. De este modo, el vendedor tendrá la seguridad del pago antes de que las mercancías se transporten y su interés estará a salvo. Por otra parte, en base al principio de cumplimiento estricto, el beneficiario se verá compensado sólo cuando presente el conjunto de documentos requeridos y cualquier error respecto de los mismos podrá comportar la negativa al pago por parte del banco. La revisión de la historia de los pagos en función de operaciones de crédito documentario en el tráfico internacional evidencia que el hecho de que los bancos sólo presten atención a los documentos y hagan caso omiso de cualquier posible disputa relativa al contrato subyacente puede incrementar el riesgo de una presentación fraudulenta por parte del beneficiario. En muchos países, el incremento en el número de casos de fraude comportó la introducción y adaptación de la excepción de fraude respecto del principio absoluto de autonomía en los créditos documentarios. Al mismo tiempo, conviene no olvidar que los Usos y Prácticas Uniformes relativos a los créditos documentarios, en tanto que conjunto de reglas más aceptadas a nivel mundial, remite totalmente el tema del fraude y del comportamiento fraudulento del beneficiario a los Derechos nacionales. Esto crea otro problema que es relevante para el estándar de prueba y los remedios bajo los diferentes sistemas legales y el conflicto de leyes. La presente tesis doctoral intenta ofrecer una respuesta al problema de la excepción de fraude al principio de independencia en los créditos documentarios conforme al Derecho inglés. Las razones para elegir este sistema jurídico son su popularidad como norma aplicable en muchos ámbitos del comercio internacional así como su naturaleza de Derecho común en ausencia de una norma que rija la regla del fraude en el crédito documentario. Interesa añadir que el Derecho inglés tiene una aproximación casuística a los problemas del fraude en el crédito documentario que crea múltiples problemas en el trabajo de los jueces de salvaguardar la justicia. Como ya se ha dicho, estos artículos científicos desean ofrecer una visión crítica de la práctica de los tribunales del Common Law en el ámbito del fraude en los créditos documentarios. A estos efectos, se revisa con detalle el desarrollo histórico y moderno de las aproximaciones judiciales inglesa y americana a la regla del fraude. También se examina el enfoque de otras jurisdicciones del Common Law cuando es necesario. La tesis se compone de dos partes: un artículo de presentación y las publicaciones. El primero tiene seis capítulos. El primero es la introducción y los antecedentes históricos de los créditos documentarios y su operativa. Mientras que el capítulo segundo explora la naturaleza legal y las fuentes del Derecho, el tercero analiza los principios básicos de los créditos documentarios. El capítulo cuarto se centra en la regla del fraude y se analizan las aproximaciones estadounidense y británica al respecto, en cuanto excepción básica respecto del principio de la independencia de los créditos documentarios. En el capítulo cinco se examinan otras excepciones, como la ilegalidad, la nulidad, la mala fe del beneficiario y la exigencia abusiva de pago. Al final, el capítulo seis proporciona una conclusión sobre el tema de estudio y los materiales cubiertos. La segunda parte contiene doce artículos publicados en revistas internacionales revisadas por expertos que brindan un análisis jurídico exhaustivo y profundo del principio de autonomía y de sus excepciones en el marco de los sistemas de Common Law.
International trade has been always a controversial topic. A person can approach it from any given perspective. However, almost no one can deny its impact on daily life of us. Therefore, all human capacities are employed to help development of it at global level. The regulatory question is one of the most debated issues in international trade among all others which have always been a hot topic for legal practitioners, businessmen, governments as well as academicians. The roots for such controversial issue can be sought in existence of different legal systems, different regulations, different terminology, different customs, different technologies and different methods of payment all in absence of global authority. However, while discussing regulatory issues in international trade, we should not forget about the dark side of business in which perpetrators with bad faith are ready to use the most advanced technologies in order to defraud others in the course of international transactions. The documentary letter of credit is one of the most popular methods of payment in international transactions. The key to their success is reducing risk for exporter by replacing importer’s financial undertakings with a guarantee of payment from a bank. Within the framework of a complicated process, bank will guarantee to honour the seller’s presentation of complying documents with terms of credit on behalf of the creditworthy buyer who will compensate the bank based on other contract. By applying two principles of autonomy and strict compliance, documentary credit mitigates the existing commercial risk of trade between buyer and seller who are in different countries and have no information about financial capacity of each other’s businesses. Within the frame work of the principle of autonomy, credit is separated from underlying contract of sales and bank will pay beneficiary who presents complying documents even in case of dispute over the underlying contract. In this way seller will have the assurance for payment before departing from goods and his interests are safeguarded. On the other hand, based on the principle of strict compliance, beneficiary will be compensated only after presentation of fully complying documents and any error on the face of documents might result in rejection of payment by bank. Review of the history of payment under documentary credit operation in international trade shows that banks focus only on documents and disregard any possible disputer in underlying contract might increase the risk of fraudulent presentation by beneficiary. In many countries, increasing number of fraud cases resulted in introduction and adaptation of fraud exception to an absolute principle of autonomy of documentary credits. At the same time, we should not forget the Unified Customs and Practices for documentary letters of credits as the most accepted set of rules at global level has completely left the issue of fraud and fraudulent behaviour of beneficiary open for national laws. This will create another problem which is relevant to the standard of proof and remedies under different legal systems and conflict of laws. Current doctoral thesis tries to offer an answer to the question of fraud exception to the principle of independence of documentary credits under English law. Reason for choosing the legal system is its popularity as the governing law in many fields of international trade as well is its common law nature and the absence of statute for governing the fraud rule in documentary credits. It is worth adding that English law has the case law approach to the problems of fraud in documentary credits which creates lots of problem on the way of judges to safeguard the justice. As it has been mentioned already, current research paper desires to have a critical approach to practice of Common Law courts in field of fraud in documentary credits. For this purpose, it will review closely historical and modern developments of fraud rule base on the case law approach of English and American courts to the subject matter. Research will also examine approaches of other common law jurisdictions if necessary. Research consists of two main parts. Review article and publications. The review article has six chapters. Chapter one is the introduction to the historical background of documentary letters of credit and their operation. While chapter two explores legal nature and sources of law for letters of credit chapter three will analyse the key principles of documentary letters of credits. Chapter four, will have a focus on fraud rule by analysing American and British approach to it as the first adopted exception to independent principle of documentary letters of credit. Chapter five will scrutinize other exceptions including illegality, nullity, beneficiary’s bad faith and abusive demand for payment. At the end chapter six will provide a conclusion on the subject matter of study and materials covered. The second part includes twelve published papers in international peer reviewed journals providing comprehensive and in depth legal analysis form autonomy principle and its exceptions within the framework of Common Law system.

La norme technique exige parfois de lui associer des innovations faisant l’objet de droits privatifs, au bénéfice de la réalisation de sa mission. De prime abord, la propriété intellectuelle apparaît comme étant un élément perturbateur, impliquant désormais d’examiner l’ « économie » de la norme au moment de son élaboration et de son utilisation et non plus uniquement la technique. Pour éviter la corruption de la norme par des droits privatifs trop contraignants, les organismes de normalisation exigent que seuls les droits privatifs « essentiels » soient associés à la norme. Les critères de l’adhérence réciproque de la norme et de l’innovation structurant leur association, justifient au nom de son « utilité sociale », une adaptation réciproque des régimes juridiques attachés à ses deux composantes. Ainsi l’ « utilité sociale » incarnée par la norme technique impose une adaptation du régime des droits de propriété intellectuelle. Symétriquement, l’innovation « essentielle » à la norme suppose une adaptation du régime de la norme technique à la propriété intellectuelle. Cela donne naissance à deux régimes juridiques substantiellement interpénétrés et structurellement interdépendants. D’une part, les droits privatifs étant « essentiels » à la norme, peuvent être considérés comme des « infrastructures essentielles », justifiant une érosion systémique de leur portée dans le cadre de leur association à la norme. Dans le cadre de l’application de règles de concurrence, cette érosion résulte d’une approche ex post à laquelle se conjugue une approche ex ante, conceptualisée par les conditions FRAND. D’autre part, l’association s’évalue également à l’aune de la propriété privée. Il apparaît que la norme technique devrait être considérée comme étant une chose commune imposant d’aménager, au bénéfice de ses utilisateurs, un accès et une utilisation libre. Cela suppose d’envisager alors l’émergence d’un droit d’utilisation de l’innovation associée à la norme technique
Technical standards may sometimes be associated to innovations covered by proprietary rights. In this case, intellectual property appears to embody a quite disturbing component within the partnership between standardization and innovation. We are thus led to analyse the association economy ; it must be construed as of the creation and the use of the standard rather than to insist on its sole technical aspects. In order to avoid the corruption of the standard by over-restrictive IP rights, standard-setting-organizations require that only "essential" proprietary rights can be associated to a technical standard. Economical and technical criterias of the mutual adherence of the technical standard and the owned innovation – structuring their association – justify in the name of its "social utility", a mutual adaptation of their legal regimes. Therefore, the technical standard’s "social utility" requires an adaptation of the IP rights legal regime. Symmetrically, the essential innovation, included in the standard, requires its fitting to the technical standards legal regime. This results in the rise of two regimes naturally interpenetrated, and structurally interdependent. On the one hand, IP rights "essential" to the standard, can be considered as "essential facilities", justifying a systematic erosion of their spectrum. As part of competition rules implementation, this erosion results from an ex post approach as well as an ex ante approach conceptualized by FRAND terms. On the other hand, the association is also evaluated through the private property perspective. It appears that the technical standard should be considered as a "common", assuming a free access and a free use. It contributes to create a right of use of the owned innovations integrated in technical standard

La division du monde en États souverains favorise les stratégies des justiciables souhaitant bénéficier d’une législation conforme à leurs aspirations. Ces pratiques sont qualifiées de forum shopping et de law shopping. Les sujets de droit sont alors assimilés à des consommateurs, et le droit est alors réduit à un simple produit « commercialisé » par les différents ordres juridiques. Ces pratiques reposent sur la place grandissante accordée à la personne qui, compte tenu de la mondialisation, devient de plus en plus mobile. Les ordres juridiques nationaux sont alors placés en concurrence et encourent le risque de voir leurs législations les plus impératives évincées. En outre, le marché global de la justice favorise les manoeuvres les plus déloyales.Pour autant, ces pratiques ne font l’objet d’aucune réglementation spécifique. Le droit international privé doit donc trouver les remèdes permettant de contrôler l’exercice du forum shopping et du law shopping pour moraliser le contentieux international et préserver les intérêts étatiques
The world division into sovereign states encourages persons answerable to the law to usestrategies as they seek to benefit from legislations consistent with their aspirations. These practices are called forum shopping and law shopping. Subjects of law are therefore compared to consumers when the law is reduced to a simple product « marketed » by different national legal orders. These practices take root in the ever growing space the subject of law is given, considering how much mobile they are becoming along with globalization. Consequently,national legal orders are competing against each other with the risk of seeing their most imperative legislation being ousted. Furthermore, world trade of justice fosters the most dishonest maneuvers. Meanwhile, these practices aren’t subjected to any specific regulation. Private international law must find the solutions that would allow control over exercising forum shopping and law shopping in order to reform international litigation and preserve state interests

À trop vouloir poser la loi étrangère en parfait symbole de la résolution des conflits de lois, les auteurs dressent une présentation manichéenne du droit international privé où la lex fori (loi du juge saisi) incarne l'indésirable. C'est oublier qu'elle est davantage utilisée que la loi étrangère en matière de litiges internationaux puisque de nombreux procédés lui octroient pleinement ou subsidiairement une position privilégiée.
Prenant acte de ce constat, qu'il fonde sur des considérations sociologiques (ethnocentrisme) et pragmatiques (bonne administration de la justice), l'auteur entend réhabiliter la loi du for. Sans aller jusqu'à un legeforismo, dont la traduction pratique serait l'application systématique de la lex fori, un équilibre réaliste est proposé à partir d'un rapprochement des critères de rattachement et des chefs de compétence. Le vade-mecum de ce rapprochement offre alors les clés de la complémentarité qui doit exister entre la lex fori et la loi étrangère.

LL.M. (Banking Law)
It has long been the vogue that the traditional fraud exception is the only exception capable of defeating the doctrine of independence in documentary-credit and performance-guarantee practice. The reason for this is self-explanatory, for it has been stated authoritatively that fraud unravels all. And on construction, this must be the correct legal position. Even then however, the fraud exception is not in itself unassailable. Given the nature and exigency of the contractual relationships peculiar to documentary credits and performance guarantees, it is indubitable for their success that these unique contractual relationships be independent of one another. The latter argument is well established in the law and practice of many jurisdictions. Commercial comity, aspirations, expediency, fair trading and a measure of certainty, inter alia, dictate the necessity for the sanctity and preservation of the doctrine of independence. Without such certainty, international commercial enterprise and entrepreneurship will be the victims. Nevertheless, it would still be fair to state that there is a broad consensus within various jurisdictions regarding the application of a fraud exception to the doctrine of independence, which simply cannot be said for an exception based on unconscionability. There are cogent reasons for this disparity, some in favour of and some against an unconscionability exception. The question which begs an answer is whether the recognition of such an exception would erode the certainty and cash characteristics, inherent and integral to documentary credit and performance guarantee practice. These instruments were, after all, designed and predicated upon tenets of certainty and considered as immediately redeemable cash. Ultimately, this debate involves a choice between embracing commercial certainty on the one hand, and fairness on the other hand. In South Africa however, unconscionability does not exist as a specific concept of law with wide and uncertain parameters. But, the concept of good faith, equally confusing, awkwardly finds its place in the South African general law of contract, but in an informative capacity to the substantive requirements of the law, and not as an independent general defence. A defence in the general law of contract in South Africa, premised on the lack of good faith is bad in law, given the established brocards such as inter alia, caveat subscriptor, caveat emptor, pacta sunt servanda, 5 and the contra proferentem rule. South African legal heritage and precedent have jettisoned the exceptio doli generalis, and this precedent is peculiarly protected by the judiciary at the highest level. Good faith, in the South African context, is not the equivalent of the so called doctrine of unconscionability analysed and discussed in the academic literature and court decisions of certain common-law jurisdictions, but the exceptio doli generalis may have been, or rather, if properly developed, could have been. And so, from a South African perspective, there is the added difficulty of considering the introduction of a foreign broad-based, uncertain and undefinable doctrine grounded in equity, when the narrowly defined concept of good faith, only informative of the substantive law, finds no general application in the law of contract in South Africa. Regard will thus be had to inter alia: the nature, scope and elements (facta probanda) of this exception; certain arguments for and against its recognition; its inability to be defined with the necessary precision required for legal efficacy and practice; its lack of certainty being in essence descriptive of a host of other conduct short of fraud and inclusive of fraud; and whether the case for its recognition might perhaps have merit and applicability in relation to performance guarantees, separate and distinct from documentary credits.