The Principles of Asian Contract Law (PACL) are the most recent addition to the series of uniform laws regarding transnational commercial contracts. This time, the harmonization initiative must address the problem of a great variety of legal traditions, all of which are quite difficult to reconcile. The author focuses on the object and objectives of the PACL by reconsidering the notion of “Asian law” and the alleged cultural neutrality of contract law as a legal discipline. The paper argues that the PACL project lacks clarity. Its ambitious objectives, while apparently intelligible, fail to produce the desired results in their entirety: the Asian regional harmonization of contract law turns out to resemble its occidental forerunners. The study goes beyond the traditional comparative law. It explores the model law (in the making) in a broader context of legal policy, parallel regional private-law-making efforts in the field of contract law as well as in the context of legal globalization.

亚洲合同法原则 (PACL) 是有关跨国商业合同的一系列统一法律的最新补充。这一次，协调倡议必须解决法律传统多种多样的问题，所有这些都很难调和。作者通过重新考虑“亚洲法”的概念以及作为一门法律学科的合同法所谓的文化中立性，重点关注《亚洲法》的目的和目标。该论文认为 PACL 项目缺乏明确性。其雄心勃勃的目标虽然显然是可以理解的，但未能完全产生预期的结果：亚洲地区合同法的统一结果与其西方先驱相似。该研究超越了传统的比较法。它在更广泛的法律政策背景、合同法领域的平行区域私法制定工作以及法律全球化的背景下探讨了示范法（正在制定中）。