Freedom of Contract With Chinese Legal Characteristics: A Closer Look at China's New Contract Law

Abstract:     
The enactment of the Contract Law of the People's Republic of China in 1999 not only marked an end of China's "triarchy" period of contract law legislation, but also to certain extent implicated official recognition of freedom of contract - a concept once deemed an enemy of socialist ideology in the country. The most notable features of the Chinese Contract Law include (a) a hybrid of civil and common law traditions, (b) a move toward market economy from the planned economy, and (c) incorporation of provisions of international treaties. Although freedom of contract is allowed, the parties' contracting power is limited by such hurdles as the state plan mandate and government approval, as well as administrative supervision. In addition, there are still many issues that are left unsolved, e.g., third party interests.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 26

Keywords: Chinese Law, Contracts

Accepted Paper Series