is the Latin word for "third", or "concerning the third". The term is used in
contract law
A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more Party (law), parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, Service (economics), services, money, or pr ...
to refer to an interested third party not
privy to a
contract
A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...
.
The
English common law
English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. The judiciary is independent, and legal principles like fairness, equality bef ...
system follows the doctrine of
privity
''Privity'' is a common law doctrine that governed the liability and obligations of contracting parties. Once an important concept in contract law, these relationships and obligations now fall within the scope of modern statutory laws, diminishing ...
: there is no recognition of the principle (a right in the third party to enforce performance) whereby a third party may enforce a promise due unto it under a contract to which it is not a party. However, in several legal systems, including U.S. and Scots contract law, this does not bar parties to a contract from specifying that a third party is to be a beneficiary of such contract.
In England itself, as well as Wales and Northern Ireland, the doctrine of privity was
reformed by statute in 1999 to enable third parties to enforce contract terms made for their benefit.
In
Scots law
Scots law () is the List of country legal systems, legal system of Scotland. It is a hybrid or mixed legal system containing Civil law (legal system), civil law and common law elements, that traces its roots to a number of different histori ...
, the principle was abolished by the
Contract (Third Party Rights) (Scotland) Act 2017 and replaced with a
statutory
A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...
right to enforce or invoke provisions of a contract.
Rights, particularly in property, that ordinarily do accrue to a third party are termed .
References
Contract law
{{latin-legal-phrase-stub
fr:Tertius