This collection of essays provides a rich and contemporary discussion of the principle of pacta sunt servanda. This principle, which requires that valid agreements are to be honoured, is a cornerstone of contract law. Focusing on contributions from Asia, this book shows that, despite its natural and universal appeal, the pacta sunt servanda principle is neither absolute nor immutable. Exceptions to the binding force of contract must be available in limited circumstances to avoid hardship and unfairness.
This book offers readers new comparative perspectives on the appropriate balance between contractual certainty and flexibility in an era of social instability. Expert authors, mostly from East and Southeast Asia, explore when their domestic legal systems allow exceptions from the binding force of contracts. Doctrines discussed include impossibility, frustration, change of circumstance, force majeure, illegality as well as rights of withdrawal. Other chapters consider the importance of the pacta principle in international law. The challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic feature strongly in the majority of contributions.
Author(s): Normann Witzleb
Series: Markets and the Law
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 282
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series
Title
Copyright
Contents
List of Contributors
Part A Pacta sunt servanda in changing times
1 Pacta sunt servanda, the common law and Hong Kong
2 Exceptions to pacta sunt servanda in the Chinese Civil Code
3 In a bubble by the sea: COVID-19, time and contract law in the Macau S.A.R.
4 Contracts in the time of COVID-19: Common law and statutory solutions in Singapore
5 The principle of pacta sunt servanda and its exceptions under Japanese contract law
6 Change of circumstances in Korean contract law: An exception to pacta sunt servanda
Part B Pacta sunt servanda in specific contexts
7 The property management service contract with Chinese characteristics: An exception to pacta sunt servanda?
8 Pacta sunt servanda in the age of cryptocurrency: The case of China
9 Post-employment non-compete agreements under the Taiwan Labour Standards Act and pacta sunt servanda
10 Pacta sunt servanda and the consumer’s right of withdrawal
11 Contract enforcement during the Global Financial Crisis: Lessons for the coming tsunami
Part C Pacta sunt servanda in international law
12 Invoking COVID-19 to suspend or terminate the operation of a treaty
13 Treaties and pacta sunt servanda: A shared concept for the PRC?
14 Pacta sunt servanda: Comfort letters in an age of instability and strategic rivalry
Part D Conclusion
15 Pacta sunt servanda – a maxim and its exceptions in comparative perspective
Index
