Professor Mindy Chen-Wishart

Emeritus Fellow

Mindy Chen-Wishart is Professor of the Law of Contract and Associate Dean of Graduates at Oxford University. She is also Fellow in Law at Merton College. She holds a fractional professorship at the National University of Singapore and holds or has held visiting professorships at Hong Kong University, the National University of Taiwan, Otago University, Auckland University, Canterbury University and Göttingen University. She is author of Contract Law (6th ed, OUP, forthcoming, 2018), an editor of Chitty on Contracts (32nd ed), and was a member of the Advisory Group on A Restatement of the English Law of Contract.  Mindy has lectured to the Judicial College of England and Wales, and the Judicial Academy in Taiwan and Hong Kong. She delivered the Fourth Annual Lecture of the International and Comparative Law Quarterly as author of the best paper. Mindy is leading a six-book project on the contract laws of Asian jurisdictions.

Research

All aspects of contract law: doctrinal, comparative and theoretical.

Publications

Books

Studies in the Contract Laws of Asia Vol II: Formation and Parties, (ed with Alexander Loke and Stefan Vogenauer) Oxford University Press, forthcoming January, 2018.

Chapters 2 and 27 in Chitty on Contracts, Vol 1, General editor H Beale, 32nd edition, 2015 November (and 2016 supplement, 2017 supplement).

Studies in the Contract Laws of Asia Vol I: Remedies for Breach of Contract, (ed with Alexander Loke and Burton Ong) Oxford University Press, 2016 January.

Contract Law, Oxford University Press, 6th edition, forthcoming 2018.

Contributing editor in Ius Communis Case Books on the Common Law of Europe: Unjust Enrichment, Beatson and Schrage (general editors), Hart, 2003.

Unconscionable Bargains, Butterworths, 1989, 184 pages.

Articles

with Stefan Vogenauer and Han Shiyuan "Introduction" in Vol II Studies in the Contract Laws of Asia: Formation of Contract and Parties, eds with Stefan Vogenauer and Han Shiyuan, Oxford University Press, 2018, forthcoming

"Contractual Remedies: Beyond Enforcing Contractual Duties" (2017) George Washington Law Review, (forthcoming)

"Invalidity of Contract in English and Chinese Law" in Chen Lei and Larry Di Matteo (eds), Perspectives on Chinese Contract Law (Cambridge University Press 2017) forthcoming

"Reform of Consideration: No Greener Grass" in S Degeling, J Edelman and J Goudkamp (eds), Contract in Commercial Law (Sydney, Thomson, 2016) 77

"Specific Performance and Change of Mind" in Commercial Remedies: Unravelling Controversies, eds Graham Virgo and Sarah Worthington (Cambridge University Press, 2017) 

with Alexander Loke and Burton Ong "Introduction: The Vision" in Vol 1 Studies in the Contract Laws of Asia: Remedies for Breach of Contract, eds with Alexander Loke and Burton Ong, Oxford University Press, 2015, 1-20

"Conclusion: Comparative Asian Contract Law on the Remedies for Breach of Contract: Transplant, Convergence and Divergence" in Vol 1 Studies in the Contract Laws of Asia: Remedies for Breach of Contract, (eds Mindy Chen-Wishart, Alexander Loke and Burton Ong) Oxford University Press, 2015, 400-430

"Controlling Unfair Terms: Protecting the Institution of Contract", in English and European Perspectives on Contract and Commercial Law, eds L Gullifer and S Vogenaur, Hart 2015, 105-130

"Not so fast please! Abolition of consideration for contract modifications" 2014 New Zealand Law Journal, 67-

"The Nature of Vitiating Factors" in Philosophical Foundations of Contract Law, P Saprai, G Letsas, G Glass (eds), Oxford University Press 2014, forthcoming.

"In Defence of Consideration" Oxford Commonwealth Law Journal 2013, pp209-238.

"Legal transplant of undue influence: Lost in translation or a working misunderstanding?" International Comparative Law Quarterly 62 (2013), pp1-30.

"Termination, Price Reduction and Damages" (with Ulrich Magnus) in The Common European Sales Law in Context: Interaction with English and German Law, G Dannemann and S Vogenaur (eds), Oxford University Press 2013, pp647-686.

"Transparency and Fairness in Bank Charges" 126 Law Quarterly Review (2010), pp157-162.

"A Bird in the Hand: Consideration and One-Sided Contract Modifications" in Contract Formation and Parties, AS Burrows and E Peel (eds), Oxford University Press 2010. 

"Consideration and Serious Intention" Singapore Journal of Legal Studies (2009), pp434-456.

"Bank Charges: A Lesson in Interpreting EC Law" Law Quarterly Review (2009), pp389-393.

"The Purposes and Methods of English Contract Law" translated into Chinese, 12 Peking University Law Review (2011), pp681-693.

"Unfairness of Bank Charges" 124 Law Quarterly Review (2008), pp561-568.

"Objectivity and Mistake: the Oxymoron of Smith v Hughes" in Exploring Contract Law, J Neyers, R Bronough, SGA Pitel (eds), Hart, 2009, p341.

"Undue Influence: Vindicating Relationships of Influence" 59 Current Legal Problems (2006), pp231-266.

"Undue Influence: Beyond Impaired Consent and Wrong-Doing, Towards a Relational Analysis" in Essays in Honour of Peter Birks, Burrows and Rodger (eds), Oxford University Press 2006, chapter 11 pp201-222.

"In Defence of Unjust Factors: A Study of Duress, Fraud and Exploitation", in Unjustified Enrichment: Key Issues in Comparative Perspective, Johnston and Zimmermann, Cambridge 2002, pp159-193.
Cited in R v Vale of White Horse DC ex p Rowe [2003] EWHC 388.

"Unjust Factors and the Restitutionary Response", 20 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies (2000), pp557-577.

"In Defence of Unjust Factors: A Comparative Study of Duress, Fraud and Exploitation" Oxford U Comparative L Forum 2 (2000).

"Restitutionary Damages for Breach of Contract", 114 Law Quarterly Review (1998), pp363-370.
Cited by the Scottish Law Commission Discussion Paper 109 on Remedies for Breach of Contract 1999.

"The O’Brien Principle and Substantive Unfairness", 56 Cambridge Law Journal (1997), pp60-70.
Cited in the International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, Vol 7 K. Zweigert, U. Drobnig (eds).

"Controlling the Power to Agree Damages", in Birks (ed), Wrongs and Remedies in the Twenty-First Century, Oxford University Press 1996, pp271-299.

"Consideration, Practical Benefit and the Emperor’s New Clothes", in Beatson and Friedmann (eds), Good Faith and Fault in Contract Law, Oxford University Press 1995, pp123-150.

"Undue Influence, Manifest Disadvantage and Loss Apportionment" 110 Law Quarterly Review (1994), pp173-178.
Cited in the International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, Vol 7 K. Zweigert, U. Drobnig (eds).