Question 2:

The Contract Rights of Third Parties Act 1999, is an unnecessary piece of legislation,
because of the numerous devices made available at common law to allow parties to
circumvent the operation of Privity of Contract. Discuss.

Answer 2:
It is often argued that Privity as a necessary feature of English Contract Law, began
based on the bargain theory closely interlinking the Doctrine of Consideration with
Privity itself to mold what now stands as the basis of enforceability of a contract. The
Doctrine of Privity, as it stood Pre-The Contract Rights of Third Parties Act 1999, was
fairly simple; No person could be subject to any burden arising from a contract to which
he is not a party, and contrarily, no benefit could be accrued from any contract to which
one is not a party, even if the contract was entered into with the very objective of
benefitting him.
However, while the first rule stands firm since time immemorial, the second finds itself
with a slightly haphazard career. Pre-1861, for example the courts held in cases such as
Dutton v Poole (1677), where contracts were entered into for the Third Party (TP)s
benefit, would allow the TP to sue upon the contract based on such. This