This fifth volume in the acclaimed Studies in the Contract Laws of Asia series offers a comprehensive comparative analysis of contract termination and change of circumstances across thirteen key Asian jurisdictions: China, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
Drawing on four major legal traditions-Napoleonic, German, common law, and the Indian Contracts Act-the volume explores how these Asian systems handle core issues such as withholding performance, termination for breach, impossibility, and adaptation of contracts under unforeseen hardship. While many jurisdictions converge on basic principles, striking differences emerge in how they allocate risk and define fairness, particularly in response to changing circumstances.
From Indonesia's requirement of judicial termination to China's unique approach to court-led contract adaptation, this volume reveals the deep influence of historical legal traditions and modern innovations on current commercial practice. It highlights both the complexity and richness of Asian contract laws, offering valuable insights for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers seeking to understand or harmonize legal approaches in a rapidly evolving economic region.
Mindy Chen-Wishart, Provost's Chair Professor, National University of Singapore, Dora Neo, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, Stefan Vogenauer, Director, Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory
Mindy Chen-Wishart is Provost's Professor at National University of Singapore. Until 2023, she was Dean, and Professor at Faculty of Law, Oxford University and Fellow of Merton College. She has authored numerous articles on the theory, doctrines and comparative law of contract, including an international prize-winning article. She is an Editor of Chitty on Contracts (36th ed) and Elgar Handbook in the Philosophy of Contract law. She authored Contract Law, 7th ed (OUP). In 2024, she received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Otago University, and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Conference on Contracts (KCON XVII).
Dora Neo is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. She was the founding Director of the Faculty's Centre for Banking & Finance Law which she led for ten years. She has authored and edited books, chapters and articles on trade finance law, secured transactions law, trade in services, and contract law. She is a graduate of Oxford University and Harvard Law School and is a non-practising member of the Bar in London (Gray's Inn) and in Singapore.
Stefan Vogenauer is Head of the Department 'European and Comparative Legal History' at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, Frankfurt. Prior to his current positions he held the Chair of Comparative Law at the University of Oxford (2003-15), where he also served as Director of the Oxford Institute of European and Comparative Law and Fellow of Brasenose College. He is a graduate of the University of Kiel (Germany) and the University of Oxford.
