Legal Research

John Honnold was an expert in international commercial sales law and known as the Father of the Vienna Convention. After working in private practice for a few years after Harvard Law School, Honnold became Chief of the Court Review Branch, in the Office of Price Administration, during World War II. An authority on commercial sales law, Honnold helped prepare Article 6 of the Uniform Commercial Code, which concerns bulk sales. Honnold also represented the United States delegation at the International Conference on the Unification of Commercial Law at The Hague, and served as Chief of Legal Staff to the Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). He also co-wrote The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), which went into effect in 1988. Among these distinctions, Honnold also taught at Penn Law from 1946 until his retirement in 1984.

The Archives recently processed the Honnold Papers. This small but significant collection is comprised mainly of letters Honnold sent and received in the 1980s, while serving as co-chairman of the U.S. Delegation to the Vienna Conference and Chief of Staff of UNCITRAL. The papers also include Honnold's personal copy of the Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce.