INTRODUCTION

As noted in the Introduction to this volume, the topic of ‘contracts and third parties’ is extensive. Different jurisdictions deal with a variety of different legal situations within that broad umbrella term. The topic is not necessarily one that sits within one area of the law of obligations. As Professor Martín-Casals’ chapter amply demonstrates, some legal systems use contract law, and others tort law, to deal with the protection of third parties. It is, therefore, hoped that this work will be of interest to scholars and students of contract and tort law alike.

The apparent lack of uniformity within European legal systems on ‘contracts and third parties’ was what prompted the idea for this work in the first place. Its aim is to provide some clarity on the approaches of the various legal systems considered in this work. While the case studies in this volume deal with a variety of situations where a contract between two parties impacts on a third party, there are some themes to be taken from the analysis of those situations. As discussed in the Introduction, these themes can be broken down into four main categories: (A) defining a third party's rights and obligations in a contract between two contractual parties (including exclusion or limitation of liability); and, related to this, (B) the actio Pauliana; (C) acquisition of contractual rights in the case of the transfer of property and assignment; and (D) relationships of principal and agent in the conclusion and performance of contracts.