is an

English contract law English contract law is the body of law that regulates legally binding agreements in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countries ...

case concerning the principle of privity of contract and

consideration Consideration is a concept of English common law and is a necessity for simple contracts but not for special contracts (contracts by deed). The concept has been adopted by other common law jurisdictions. The court in ''Currie v Misa'' declared ...

. Its panel of appeal judges reinforced that the doctrine of privity meant that only those who are party to an agreement (outside of one of the well-established exceptional relationships such as agency, bailment or trusteeship) may sue or be sued on it and established the principle that "consideration must flow from the promisee".

Facts

John Tweddle and William Guy mutually agreed in writing to pay sums of money (£100 and £200, respectively) to Tweddle's son William (who was engaged to Guy's daughter). Guy then died before payment, and when the estate would not pay, William Tweddle then sued Mr Atkinson, the executor of Guy's estate, for the promised £200.

Judgment

The court held that the suit would not succeed as no stranger to the consideration may enforce a contract, although made for his benefit. The court ruled that a promisee cannot bring an action unless the consideration of the promisee moved to him. Consideration must move from party entitled to sue upon the contract. No legal entitlement is conferred on third parties to an agreement. Third parties to a contract do not derive any rights from that agreement nor are they subject to any burdens imposed by it. It was left unanswered if the groom's father could have successfully sued the estate instead.

Critique

The case's summary of the doctrine of privity in the common law was upheld in '' Dunlop v Selfridge'' (1915) and ''

Beswick v Beswick was a landmark English contract law case on privity of contract and specific performance. The Lords, overruling the decision of Lord Denning in the Court of Appeal, ruled that a person who was not party to a contract had no independent standin ...

'' (1967), but it was frequently criticised for obstructing the wishes of the contracting parties. The two fathers intended that the sums should be paid to the groom, and their wishes were defeated. (Note that this case preceded the Married Women's Property Act 1882, which enabled married women to retain their property.) In the 1930s the Law Reform Committee proposed amendment of the doctrine but World War II intervened and nothing was done. Earlier in , Master of the Rolls Lord Denning construed the

Law of Property Act 1925 The Law of Property Act 1925c 20 is a statute of the United Kingdom Parliament. It forms part of an interrelated programme of legislation introduced by Lord Chancellor Lord Birkenhead between 1922 and 1925. The programme was intended to moderni ...

to try to overthrow the doctrine, but on appeal, the House of Lords Judicial Committee, the court of final appeal, criticised his extreme literal interpretation and declared the doctrine intact. Many legal devices exist to circumvent the doctrines (such as the use of

negotiable instrument A negotiable instrument is a document guaranteeing the payment of a specific amount of money, either on demand, or at a set time, whose payer is usually named on the document. More specifically, it is a document contemplated by or consisting of a ...

s), the greatest being the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 which allows, in general, a beneficiary or an identified third party to enforce terms to its benefit in a contract made by others.Roger Brownsword, ''Smith & Thomas: A Casebook on Contract''

References

* * *{{cite web , publisher = Intellectual Property and Information Technology Update , title = Information and Communications Technology: Source Code Escrow and the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 , url = http://www.ipit-update.com/ictcon11.htm , access-date = 2007-09-03 , url-status = dead , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070928072242/http://www.ipit-update.com/ictcon11.htm , archive-date = 2007-09-28 , df = 1861 in case law 1861 in England Lord Blackburn cases English enforceability case law English privity case law 1861 in British law Court of King's Bench (England) cases

Facts

Judgment

Critique

References

See also