Chinese Contract Law Civil and Common Law Perspectives

This book is the product of a unique collaboration between mainland Chinese scholars and scholars from the civil, common, and mixed jurisdiction legal traditions. It begins by placing the current Chinese contract law (CCL) in the context of an evolutionary process accelerated during China's transition to a market economy. It is structured around the core areas of contract law, anticipatory repudiation (common law) and defense of security (German law); and remedies and damages, with a focus on the availability of specific performance in Chinese law. The book also offers a useful comparison between the CCL and the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts, as well as the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The analysis in the book is undertaken at two levels - practical application of the CCL and scholarly commentary.

Part I. History of Chinese Contract Law: 1. History of Chinese contract law Chen Lei and Larry A. DiMatteo; Part II. General Principles: 2. General principles under the CCL Han Shiyuan; 3. General principles of Chinese contract law: an English common law perspective Christian Twigg-Flesner; 4. Good faith in contract performance in Chinese and common laws Ewan McKendrick and Qaio Liu; 5. General principles of Chinese contract law: a Scottish perspective Martin Hogg; Part III. Contract Formation: 6. Liability prior to contract formation in Chinese contract law Shen Wei; 7. Pre-contractual liability from a civil lawyer's perspective Barbara Passa; 8. Pre-contractual liability through the looking glass of the common law Alexander Loke; Part IV. Validity: 9. Prospect of validity in Chinese contract law Wang Yi; 10. Invalidity of contract in Chinese and English contract law Mindy Chen-Wishart; 11. Impossibility of performance and contract validity: a German law perspective Lutz-Christian Wolff; Part V. Performance and Breach: 12. Perspectives on Chinese contract law: performance and breach Ding Chunyan; 13. Anticipating breach, change of circumstances, and third party rights: a civil law perspective Ulrich Schroeter; 14. Chinese law of performance and breach: a common law perspective James Devenney and Geraint Howells; Part VI. Remedies and Damages: 15. Damages and specific performance in Chinese contract law Chen Lei; 16. Chinese contract law on remedies and damages: a civil law perspective Michel Cannarsa; 17. Debt instead of damages in the common law Michael Bridge; Part VII. CCL and International Law Instruments: 18. CCL and Unidroit principles André Janssen and Samuel C. K. Chau; 19. CCL and CISG: a comparative analysis of formation, performance, and breach Larry A. DiMatteo and Jingen Wang.

Larry A. DiMatteo is Huber Hurst Professor of Contract Law at the University of Florida. He is the author or editor of over 100 articles and chapters and eleven books. He has been the University of Florida's Teacher-Scholar of the Year, Editor-in-Chief of the American Business Law Journal, Fulbright Professor, and Leverhulme Trust Grant Professor (UK).
Lei Chen is Associate Professor and Associate Dean in the School of Law of the City University of Hong Kong. His fields of research include property theory, Chinese contract law, Hong Kong land law, Chinese legal history and comparative law. He is an elected member of the International Academy of Comparative Law and a fellow of the European Law Institute.