The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 came into force on 11 November, 1999. It applies to contracts entered into on or after 11 May, 2000.
Background
The Act was passed to reform the established common law doctrine of privity of contract. Under that rule only a party to a contract that had provided consideration could enforce its terms. Over the years, the courts had criticised this doctrine as unjust. A party could break a contract contrary to the parties’ intentions, safe in the knowledge that the third party suffering the loss would be unable to sue.
