Executory contracts in insolvency law: A global guide (2nd edition). By Jason Chuah, Eugenio Vaccari, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 2023. pp. 672. £220. ISBN: 978‐1‐80392‐341‐3

• Published date: 01 December 2023
• Author: Lézelle Jacobs
• Date: 01 December 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/iir.1507

BOOK REVIEW

Executory contracts in insolvency law: A global

guide (2nd edition)

By Jason Chuah, Eugenio Vaccari, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

2023. pp. 672. £220. ISBN: 978-1-80392-341-3

Lézelle Jacobs

Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia

Email: lezelle.jacobs@uts.edu.au

In June 2023, the United Nations published “5 things you need to know about the global

economy in 2023”.

1

It notes, as an opening line, that prospects for economic recovery remain

dim. In the world of insolvency, evidence for this statement is seen daily. The world's economy

is suffering due to inflation, rising interest rates, the continued economic fallout, and the effects

of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

2

The increasing number of personal and

corporate insolvencies globally, emphasizes the need for an effective and efficient insolvency

framework that resolves insolvency. The resolution of insolvency includes dealing with conflicts

between parties' attempts to enforce their contractual and other rights, and being subjected to

the rules of insolvency law and practice. Guidance on how to best deal with scenarios where

the debtor is party to an incomplete contract is therefore imperative.

This book, currently in its second edition, looks at the treatment of these uncompleted or

executory contracts in insolvency scenarios and provides a truly unique global guide to this

topic. This second edition, indeed, goes beyond “a mere simple updating of the text”

3

in that

every chapter included endeavours to provide jurisdictional specific reflections on how the cur-

rent global economic turmoil has affected commerce and the economy in this area of insolvency

law. It boasts a previously excluded jurisdiction with the inclusion of South Korea in Chapter 26.

The chapters on Germany (Chapter 18) and Singapore (Chapter 7) were also wholly rewritten

for the second edition.

The book presents its discussions in a logical and practical way by first providing an over-

arching thematic discussion of executory contracts and ipso facto clauses. Chapter 1 acts as a

map to understand the approach taken by the contributors in evaluating the subject matter for

1

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 5 Things you need to know about the global economy (June

2, 2012), available at: https://www.un.org/en/desa/5-things-you-need-know-about-global-economy-2023#::text=The%

20world%20economy%20faces%20the,investment%20and%20mounting%20debt%20vulnerabilities.

2

Idem.

3

Preface to this edition, xxxv.

Received: 17 July 2023 Accepted: 2 August 2023

DOI: 10.1002/iir.1507

© 2023 INSOL International and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Int Insolv Rev. 2023;32:575–577. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/iir 575