Date: September 9, 2025 (Tuesday)

Time: 5:45pm – 7:15pm

Venue: Academic Conference Room, 11/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, The University of Hong Kong

Speaker: Jordan English, Associate Professor of Law, University of Oxford; DVC Oxford-HKU Visiting Fellow

This book delves into a fundamental question: under what circumstances are parties released from their contractual duties for reasons other than performance of those duties? By re-examining cases of breach, frustration, and common mistake — three key doctrines in modern English contract law — this monograph demonstrates how these disparate areas of contract law are in fact instances of the discharge of contractual obligations due to a failure of condition. Championing the once-dominant ‘failure of condition’ model in English law, the book argues that ordinarily, parties do not promise to perform ‘no matter what,’ but instead make promises that depend on various explicit and implicit conditions.

Jordan English is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Oxford and a Tutor and Fellow in Law at Magdalen College. He is visiting Hong Kong as the Des Voeux Chambers Oxford-HKU Visting Fellow. Jordan lectures in Contract Law and teaches, among other things, Commercial Remedies and Restitution of Unjust Enrichment. His research in private law has been cited widely, including by the High Court of Australia, the New South Wales Court of Appeal, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia, the England and Wales High Court (Commercial Court), and the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. Jordan is the author of Discharge of Contractual Obligations (Oxford University Press, 2025) and the co-author of The Law of Tracing (Federation Press, 2021) and has written several articles on topics spanning contract law, property law, and private law remedies. His work on asset recovery has also led to research on proceeds of crime laws, and in this respect he is the co-author of an Australian text, Federal Proceeds of Crime Law (Thomson Reuters, 2024).

Discussants:

Alexander Loke, Professor, City University of Hong Kong School of Law

Siyi Lin, Assistant Professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law

David Winterton, Associate Professor, The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law

Moderator: Lusina Ho, Harold Hsiao-Wo Lee Professor in Trust and Equity, The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law

To register, please go to https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_regform.aspx?guest=Y&UEID=102349.

The book is now available for sale on the Oxford University Press website: Discharge of Contractual Obligations – Jordan English – Oxford University Press (Enjoy 30% off by applying the promotion code: AUFLY30).

For inquiries, please contact Ms. Grace Chan at  / 3917 4727.