The Interpretation and Review of Contractual Terms in Asia: The Presentation of a Research Project

In cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory and the Max Planck Law research network.

Topic

How would a Taiwanese court decide the Haakjöringsköd case? Are traces of Germany’s 1976 Act on Standard Contract Terms to be found in China’s new Civil Code or in the most recent reform of the Japanese Civil Code? Can Korean consumer associations bring court actions against unfair terms? How do Thai courts apply §§ 171 and 368 of the Thai Civil Code (literal translations of §§ 133, 157 BGB)?

Comparative law literature in Western languages only seldom offers answers to these and similar questions. A comprehensive research project headed by Mindy Chen-Wishart (University of Oxford) and Stefan Vogenauer (MPI Frankfurt) is presently undertaking a systematic, English language mapping of 13 Asian contract law regimes. The research findings are being published by Oxford University Press in six volumes. Following the first two volumes on Remedies for Breach of Contract (2016) and Formation and Third Party Beneficiaries (2018), the third volume has now been released. It addresses two topics that are central to any contract law regime: What rules and principles are applied by courts in the interpretation of contracts and to what extent can courts declare unfair terms ineffective?

Following opening remarks by Professor Mindy Chen-Wishart, Professor Stefan Vogenauer details the latest research findings. Thereafter, Professor Dr. Sheng-Lin Jan and Professor Dr. Moritz Bälz offer brief comments on the judicial review of contractual terms from the perspective of two of the legal systems considered in the study. The conference is moderated by Ruth Effinowicz and Professor Dr. Knut Benjamin Pißler.

Presentation Videos

The presentations from the virtual conference can be found here for streaming:

Participants

Stefan VOGENAUER is Director at the MPI for European for Legal History and Legal Theory and Speaker for Max Planck Law, the network comprising the eleven Max Planck Institutes engaged in legal research. Previously he was Professor of Comparative Law at the University of Oxford. There, he was also Director of the Institute of European and Comparative Law and Fellow at Brasenose College.

Moritz BÄLZ is Professor of Japanese Law and its Cultural Foundations at the Goethe University Frankfurt and Deputy Executive Director of the University’s Interdisciplinary Centre for East Asian Studies (IZO).

Mindy CHEN-WISHART is Professor of the Law of Contract at the University of Oxford, Dean of the University’s Legal Faculty and Fellow at Merton College.

Ruth EFFINOWICZ is a Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Centre of Expertise on Japan at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law.

Sheng-Lin JAN is Judge at the Constitutional Court of Taiwan. Until 2016 he was Fu Ssu-Nien Memorial Chair Professor and Distinguished Professor at the National Taiwan University (NTU).

Knut Benjamin PISSLER is a Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Centre of Expertise on China and Korea at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law. He is Professor of Chinese Law at the University of Göttingen.