Hao Jiang

foto Hao Jiang

I am an assistant professor of comparative private law. I have written on topics in contract theory, American, Chinese and European business and private law. Prior to joining Bocconi, I taught at Tulane Law School, City University of Hong Kong, visited Paris II and Trieste and conducted post-doctoral research at Max Planck Institute. I am a member of the New York State Bar and European Law Institute. I am the author and editor of two books published by Cambridge Press and one by Edward Elgar. I authored a dozen journal articles in Tulane Law Review and Michigan State Law Review, NYU Journal of Law and Business, American Journal of Jurisprudence etc. My work has been translated into Chinese and Spanish. I earned a law degree in China along with a J.D., an LL.M. and an S.J.D. from Tulane Law School. I am currently leading a comparative study of contract law with the aim of drafting a model sales law for the Greater Bay Area in China. I am also developing a moral theory of contracts, contract as voluntary commutative justice, that would explain both common law and civil law contract doctrine coherently. In spring 2024, I will be visiting Yale Law School. 

 

Assistant Professor
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About

My research connects doctrines, cases, legal history and moral philosophy. I often write about the doctrinal inconsistencies in private law in America, China and continental Europe and trace them back to theoretical incoherence. 

I also use empirical methods (judge interviews, fact-based questionnaires etc.) to study the inconsistencies between doctrinal rules and their applications in reality. 

With James Gordley, I am publishing a forthcoming paper on the doctrine of causa in Tulane Law Review where we argue causa is not a necessarily needed doctrine but the modern use of causa in contemporary law preserves the idea of contract as voluntary commutative justice.  

Research interests

My main research interest is to use the Aristotelian idea of commutative justice to explain private law. I am also interested in studying the doctrinal issues arising out of the codification of Chinese civil law. 

Working papers
James Gordley, Hao Jiang
The Maze of Contemporary Contract Theory and a Way Out
American Journal of Jurisprudence (forthcoming)
Gordley,James; Jiang,Hao
The Misconceived Doctrine of Causa and the Incoherence of Contemporary Contract Law
Tulane Law Review Vol.98 (forthcoming )
Selected Publications
Hao Jiang; Marta Infantino

Towards a Model Sales Law in the Greater Bay Area: A Comparative Study of Contract Law in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau

Edward Elgar Publishing
Hao Jiang ; Pietro Sirena (eds.)

The Making of the Chinese Civil Code: Promises and Persistent Problems

Cambridge University Press