Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Foreign illegality defence

Legal area

Court

15 Apr 2026

MAI, JIEPING TRADING AS FAI TAT RMB EXCHANGE v. WONG, CHI HUNG

Citation

[2026] HKCFA 14
Court

Court of Final Appeal
Case number

FACV5/2025

Where a contract governed by Hong Kong law is unenforceable because of foreign (Mainland) illegality, a Hong Kong unjust enrichment claim for total failure of consideration governed by Hong Kong law will be upheld except in rare cases where enforcement would offend comity or constitute or endorse a violation of the foreign law; apply the range‑of‑factors approach to weigh seriousness and centrality of illegality and comity concerns; unjust enrichment is a distinct obligation from contractual enforcement.
27 Nov 2025

RE XU PEIXIN

Citation

[2025] HKCFI 5846
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCB6058/2024

The court dismissed the petition and declined to exercise its bankruptcy jurisdiction to decide the disputed debt because the arbitration clause covered the dispute and the Debtor demonstrated a genuine intention to arbitrate; balancing party autonomy and insolvency public interest (and absent compelling insolvency risk to third parties), dismissal in favour of arbitration was appropriate despite delay; subsidiary findings on merits (including that the foreign illegality defence lacked realistic prospects) did not justify the court retaining the petition.
6 Oct 2023

WONG, CHI HUNG v. LO, WING PUN AND ANOTHER

Citation

[2023] HKDC 1284
Court

District Court
Case number

DCCJ1960/2019

The agreement objectively required deposit into Ms Kwok’s BOC account but was unenforceable in Hong Kong because it breached PRC foreign exchange regulations; nonetheless the plaintiff established an unjust enrichment claim against the 2nd defendant because the 2nd defendant received the RMB1,000,000 at the plaintiff’s expense, PRC Civil Code article 157 permits restitution (or payment of an equivalent sum) and the defence of foreign illegality was not made out so as to bar restitution; claim against 1st defendant dismissed.

Hong Kong Case Law

MAI, JIEPING TRADING AS FAI TAT RMB EXCHANGE v. WONG, CHI HUNG

RE XU PEIXIN

WONG, CHI HUNG v. LO, WING PUN AND ANOTHER