【内容提要】

经与《亚洲法与社会杂志》（AJLS）编辑部达成共识，马来西亚莫纳什大学副教授Adnan Trakic、香港中文大学副教授Normann Witzleb以及马来西亚莫纳什大学Ridoan Karim博士将担任此次特刊的客座主编，特刊主题为“马来西亚合同法改革：后殖民亚洲社会的法律、市场与法律变革”。AJLS作为顶尖的开放获取且采取同行评审流程的期刊，为全球法律与社会研究提供重要的亚洲视角，致力于发表跨学科、实证为本且理论扎实的研究成果，将法律置于更广阔的社会、经济与制度语境中探讨。

征稿主题

2025年1月1日，马来西亚政府启动对本国合同法的全面审查，重点聚焦1950年《合同法》的改革。这部以1872年《印度合同法》为蓝本的殖民时期法规，历经数十年经济、技术与社会变革仍基本维持原貌，至今仍规范着马来西亚经济各领域的契约关系。此次改革进程因而引发了关于法律延续与变革，成文法与普通法关系以及传统法律框架应对现代市场与契约实践能力的根本性思考。

在普通法世界中，马来西亚呈现为独特的分析案例。不同于主要通过司法发展演进合同法的司法辖区，马来西亚合同法仍以成文法为主。当前的改革进程由此提供了一个独特的社会法学视角，可借此考察后殖民法律体系如何协调法律现代化、市场监管、契约正义与制度约束。

本特刊虽以马来西亚为中心，但秉持比较法与理论导向，将探讨延伸至亚洲及其他普通法法域，涵盖私法治理市场、弱势合同方保护、仲裁作用以及当代经济中合同执行的社会后果等广泛议题。

本特刊诚邀聚焦法律语境化问题的原创实证研究、法理探讨、理论建构及比较研究。投稿可将马来西亚作为主要案例研究对象，或将其发展置于更广阔的亚洲或比较法视角下探讨。我们尤其欢迎涉及以下主题领域之一的论文：

1. 法典编纂、司法发展与后殖民法律变革

Ø 后殖民法域中综合合同法典的持续作用

Ø 成文法、普通法与监管机构的互动关系

Ø 成文合同体系中司法立法的边界

2. 合同成立、合意与契约脆弱性

Ø 胁迫（含经济胁迫）

Ø 契约中的不公平交易与结构性不平等

Ø 现代市场中的权力、压力与脆弱性

3. 合同效力、对价与市场监管

Ø 对价与合同变更

Ø 贸易限制、赌约协议与市场治理

Ø 跨境合同中的区域协调与仲裁

4. 履行、公平与契约治理

Ø 契约履行与执行的诚信原则

Ø 不公平合同条款与消费者保护

Ø 经济环境变迁中的履行障碍、不可抗力与困难抗辩

5. 变更、违约与救济

Ø 损害赔偿、返还与衡平救济

Ø 仲裁中的救济与跨境执行

Ø 契约破裂与司法救济途径

6. 复杂契约、风险与网络化关系

Ø 赔偿、担保、寄存与代理

Ø 第三方权利与多方契约

Ø 人工智能、平台经济与契约责任

投稿须知

Ø 最终稿件将以英文发表，平均篇幅为10,000字。具体作者指南详见文末所附链接。

Ø 论文主题须与征文主题密切相关。

Ø “亚洲”的界定广泛涵盖亚洲的所有地区和范围，鼓励与来自亚洲国家及社会的学者展开合作。

Ø 所有最终入选稿件均需经过同行评审。

本期《亚洲法与社会杂志》特刊由Adnan Trakic副教授、Normann Witzleb副教授及Ridoan Karim博士共同主编。文稿与相关咨询请以MS WORD格式发送至客座主编邮箱：

adnan.trakic@monash.edu

n.witzleb@cuhk.edu.hk

ridoan.karim@monash.edu

投稿须为未发表的原创作品。若有意愿向本期特刊投稿，请于2026年5月20日前通过电子邮件提交：

(1) 稿件的拟定标题

(2) 150字的摘要

完整稿件提交截止日期为2026年10月15日，预计出版时间为2027年。

Call for Papers

Per agreement with the editors of the Asian Journal of Law and Society (AJLS), Associate Professor Adnan Trakic (Monash University Malaysia), Associate Professor Normann Witzleb (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), and Dr Ridoan Karim (Monash University Malaysia) will serve as Guest Editors for a special issue of AJLS on “Reforming Contract Law in Malaysia: Law, Markets, and Legal Change in a Post-Colonial Asian Society.” AJLS is a leading, open-access, peer-reviewed journal that provides an important Asian perspective on global law-and-society scholarship. The journal publishes interdisciplinary, empirically informed, and theoretically grounded research that situates law within its broader social, economic, and institutional contexts.

On 1 January 2025, the Malaysian Government commenced a comprehensive review of Malaysian contract law, focusing on reform of the Contracts Act 1950. The Act, a colonial-era statute modelled on the Indian Contract Act 1872, has remained largely unchanged despite decades of economic, technological, and social transformation, and continues to govern contractual relations across all sectors of the Malaysian economy. The reform process therefore raises fundamental questions about legal continuity and change, the relationship between statute and common law, and the capacity of inherited legal frameworks to respond to modern markets and contractual practices.

Malaysia offers an analytically distinctive case within the common law world. Unlike jurisdictions where contract law has evolved primarily through judicial development, Malaysian contract law remains largely codified. The current reform process thus provides a unique socio-legal lens through which to examine how post-colonial legal systems negotiate legal modernisation, market regulation, contractual justice, and institutional constraints.

While centred on Malaysia, this special issue adopts a comparative and theoretically informed orientation, engaging broader debates across Asia and other common law jurisdictions on the governance of markets through private law, the protection of vulnerable contracting parties, the role of arbitration, and the social consequences of contractual enforcement in contemporary economies.

This special issue welcomes original empirical, doctrinal, theoretical, and comparative contributions that engage substantively with law-in-context questions. Submissions may address Malaysia as a primary case study or situate Malaysian developments within wider Asian or comparative perspectives. We particularly welcome papers engaging with one or more of the following thematic areas:

1. Codification, Judicial Development, and Post-Colonial Legal Change

o The continuing role of comprehensive contract codes in post-colonial jurisdictions

o Interactions between statute, common law, and regulatory institutions

o Limits of judicial law-making in codified contract systems

2. Formation, Consent, and Contractual Vulnerability

o Duress (including economic duress)

o Unconscionable dealing and structural inequalities in contracting

o Power, pressure, and vulnerability in modern markets

3. Validity, Consideration, and Market Regulation

o Consideration and contract variations

o Restraints of trade, wagering agreements, and market governance

o Regional harmonisation and arbitration in cross-border contracts

4. Performance, Fairness, and Contractual Governance

o Good faith in contractual performance and enforcement

o Unfair contract terms and consumer protection

o Frustration, force majeure, and hardship in changing economic conditions

5. Variation, Breach, and Remedies

o Damages, restitution, and equitable remedies

o Remedies in arbitration and cross-border enforcement

o Contractual breakdown and access to justice

6. Complex Contracting, Risk, and Networked Relationships

o Indemnities, guarantees, bailment, and agency

o Third-party rights and multi-party contracting

o Artificial intelligence, platform economies, and contractual responsibility

Please keep in mind the following in your consideration and submission:

· The final manuscript will be published in English with an average length of 10,000 words.

· The topic of the thesis should be closely related to the relevant issues in the call.

· Preferences will be given to broad coverage of Asia, including all regions and areas; collaboration with scholars from Asian nations and societies would be welcome.

· All finally selected manuscripts will undergo peer review.

This special volume of AJLS will be edited by Associate Professor Adnan Trakic, Associate Professor Normann Witzleb, and Dr Ridoan Karim.

Manuscripts and enquiries should be submitted in MS WORD format to the Guest Editors at

adnan.trakic@monash.edu

n.witzleb@cuhk.edu.hk

ridoan.karim@monash.edu

Manuscripts should represent unpublished original work. If you are potentially interested in contributing to this special issue, please send us via email:

(1) a proposed title of your manuscript, and

(2) an abstract (150 words) by 20 May 2026.

The deadline for submissions of the full manuscript is 15 October 2026, and the projected publication is 2027.

Guest Editors

· Associate Professor Adnan Trakic, Monash University Malaysia

· Associate Professor Normann Witzleb, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

· Dr Ridoan Karim, Monash University Malaysia

友情链接

作者须知 （Author Instructions）：

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/asian-journal-of-law-and-society/information/author-instructions/preparing-your-materials

AJLS官方网站（AJLS Website）：

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/asian-journal-of-law-and-society

特刊征稿启事英文版 （English Version of the Call for Papers）：

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/asian-journal-of-law-and-society/announcements/call-for-papers/reforming-contract-law-in-malaysia-law-markets-and-legal-change-in-a-post-colonial-asian-society

助理编辑：赵楚齐

责任编辑：陈曦宜

审白白读：季卫东

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