Comparison of Australian and Chinese Contract Law

The book focuses on the new Chinese Civil Code. It will be a great promotion of the Chinese Civil Code and enhance its understanding at the international level. It will also promote the understanding of Chinese law in the context of the One Belt One Road Initiative.

Since the Chinese Civil Code came into force in 2021, it is still at an early stage of comparing Australian contract law and contract law principles in the Chinese Civil Code. To date, there are few systematic studies on the comparison of contract law in Australia and in China. The existing literature on the comparison is much more based on the old Chinese contract law of 1999. In addition, the existing literature on Australian contract law generally lacks a comparative dimension, particularly with China. The standard Australian contract law books and articles contain little reference to what similar problems might be conceived of or dealt with in a civil law jurisdiction like China. In the case of the Chinese Civil Code, although there are useful works on its legislative provisions, theories and doctrines, the contents of those works may not be readily comprehensible by an Australian lawyer or scholar unless set in a comparable context. This book seeks to fill this gap in the existing literature.

This book will also provide a comparison and analysis of Chinese and Australian contract law to show international legal scholars and practitioners not only the judicial interpretation and application of contract law rules in China but also the scholastic understandings of and approaches to the comparison of it with a common law jurisdiction, such as Australia. Another aim of the book is to lay a foundation to commence a long-term project to comprehensively compare selected areas and topics in Australian contract law and Chinese contract law, such as damages.