Editing Privity of contract (section)

{{Short description|Legal principle}}
{{Contract law}}
The doctrine of '''privity of contract''' is a [[common law]] principle which provides that a [[contract]] cannot confer rights or impose obligations upon anyone who is not a party to that contract.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beatson |first1=J |last2=Burrows |first2=A |last3=Cartwright |first3=J |title=Anson's Law of Contract |date=2020 |publisher=OUP |isbn=9780198829973 |page=Ch 21 |url=https://www.oxfordlawtrove.com/display/10.1093/he/9780198829973.001.0001/he-9780198829973-chapter-21 |access-date=2023-03-20}}</ref> It is related to, but distinct from, the doctrine of [[consideration]], according to which a promise is legally enforceable only if valid consideration has been provided for it, and a plaintiff is legally entitled to enforce such a promise only if they are a promisee from whom the consideration has moved.<ref>{{cite web |last1=The Law Commission |title=The Law Commission Report No. 242: PRIVITY OF CONTRACT: CONTRACTS FOR THE BENEFIT OF THIRD PARTIES |url=https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/app/uploads/2017/02/lc242_privity-of-contract-contracts-for-the-benefit-of-third-parties.pdf |website=The Law Commission |access-date=2023-03-20 |date=July 1996}}</ref>

A principal consequence of the doctrine of privity is that, at common law, a third party generally has no right to enforce a contract to which they are not a party, even where that contract was entered into by the contracting parties specifically for their benefit and with a common intention among all of them that they should be able to enforce it.  In England & Wales and Northern Ireland, the doctrine has been substantially weakened by the [[Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999]], which created a statutory exception to privity, providing, in certain circumstances, third parties the right to enforce terms of contracts to which they are not privy.