Ending and Changing Contracts

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.

1 - Introduction
2 - On Comparative Analysis as well as Ending and Changing Contracts
3 - Change of Circumstances in China's Civil Legislation and Judicial Practice
4 - Termination of Contract in Chinese Law
5 - Contract Terms in Hong Kong: Changed Circumstances and Variation
6 - Termination of Contracts in Hong Kong
7 - Changes in Circumstances and their Impact on Contractual Obligations in India
8 - Discharge of Performance and Termination of Contracts in India
9 - Change of Circumstances in the Indonesian Law of Obligations
10 - Termination of Contracts under Indonesian Law
11 - Ending and Changing Performance under Japanese Law
12 - Termination of Contracts under Japanese Law
13 - Change of Circumstances: Korea
14 - Termination under Korean Law
15 - Change of Circumstances: The Position under Malaysian Contract Law
16 - Termination of Contracts: The Position under Malaysian Contract Law
17 - Myanmar: Change of Circumstances and Termination of Contract for Breach
18 - Revision of Contracts in the Philippines: The Ramifications of a Change of Circumstances
19 - Rescission of Contracts in the Philippines: Ending Performance and Extinguishing Obligations
20 - Contractual Obligations and Change of Circumstances in Singapore
21 - Termination under Singapore Law
22 - The Doctrine of Change of Circumstances in Taiwanese Law
23 - Termination and Rescission under Taiwanese Contract Law
24 - A Change of Circumstances in Thai Law
25 - Termination of Contracts in Thai Law
26 - Change of Circumstances under Vietnamese Contract Law
27 - Termination of Contracts under Vietnamese Law
28 - Ending Contracts and Changing Circumstances in Asia: Comparative Conclusions

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.