Ensuring freedom of contract in the event of “substantial change of circumstances”

Abstract

Freedom of contract is one of the economic human rights. The paper studies the right to agree on changes in contractual contents in the event of “substantial change of circumstances” under the law of United States, China and France and international law in comparison with that under the law of Vietnam to identify the similarities and differences. On that basis, the paper has made recommendations to amend and supplement Article 420 of the 2015 Civil Code of Vietnam on "performance of contracts when circumstances change substantially" with regard to the following details: the purpose of the contract no longer exists; jurisdiction of the arbitrator and the right to agree on changes in contractual contents of the parties.