• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.41
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• pp.79-102
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• 2009

L/C transaction, the most important issue for the seller and the buyer is the theory of documentary transaction and the theory of strict compliance which are the principles of L/C transactions. According to the leading cases in England and America where the practice of L/C transactions was created and developed, the descriptions of the commodities specified on all the documents which are submitted based on an L/C, should be identical to the descriptions of commodities specified in the L/C. And further, many leading cases of L/C continuously repeat to emphasize strict compliance. However, the recent leading cases in and out of the country show that the principle of strict compliance is being weakened. The leading cases in America show two trends of weakening the principle of strict compliance. That is, on the contrary to strict compliance, tends to apply substantial compliance (which puts more value on the substance of the documents). These leading cases reflect the attitudes of the judicial and the legislative authorization that don't want to approve formal approach to the commercial law. Recently, the Supreme Court of Korea is giving a decision on the principle of strict compliance, "The documents attached to an L/C should strictly comply with the conditions in the L/C, but it doesn't mean that they should be perfectly identical without any mistake in words. In case the bank can understand through reasonable care that a small mistake in words is too trivial to give different meaning or to give damage to the conditions of the L/C, the documents are regarded to comply with the conditions of the L/C. However, the judgment should be based on whether the difference between the documents and the L/C can be admitted by the international standard bank transaction practice or not." This decision tells that the principle of strict compliance is quite much modified so application of this modification can't be ignored. However, from the viewpoint of the party who requests to open an L/C, there is a criticism that a bank's arbitrary judgement can be involved. Therefore, reviewing the original purpose of L/C transactions (activating international transactions), the principle of strict compliance may be thought old-fashioned because it emphasizes a form, but in reality, for prompt transaction and payment, the principle of strict compliance should be observed in L/C transactions. And further, if a legislative device is prepared to systematically compensate for several side-effects, the principle of strict compliance will improve dynamic flow of prompt and low-costly L/C transactions. On the other hand, it will be able to protect the interested parties.