1. Introduction

The purpose of this review is to render a clear and as comprehensive as possible account of Israeli commercial law (with an emphasis on the law of international sales and other international business transactions) within a narrow span, mostly pertaining to transactual rather than corporate or strictly financial contexts. It is written for jurists, lawyers and students who are unfamiliar with Israeli law yet are versed in law otherwise, and thus basic and general jurisprudential concepts are assumed rather than explained. The study seeks to present law-in-action as seen through the lens of practitioners and courts, and surveys legislative innovations and practical concerns beyond black letter law. However, due to its scope, this review is perforce limited. It indicates the major doctrines, trends and concepts used in Israeli commercial law and relates them to some constitutional, administrative, tort, corporate and quasicontractual fields of civil law, but does not pretend to supply in-depth analysis beyond positive exposition. At the most it explores some judicial and legislative trends when discussing specific topics, and draws analogies to comparative law when such are deemed helpful. However, every account of complex legal regimes that goes beyond the most rudimentary black letter law involves some level of interpretation, and this study is no different.