IUS QUAESITUM TERTIO. Ed by Eltjo J H Schrage Berlin: Duncker and Humblot (www.duncker-humblot.de), Comparative Studies in Continental and Anglo-American Legal History, vol 26, 2009. 433 pp. ISBN 9783428127207. €88.
| DOI | 10.3366/elr.2010.0015 |
| Published date | 01 May 2010 |
| Author | Pascal Pichonnaz |
| Pages | 337-339 |
| Date | 01 May 2010 |
Contracts in favour of third parties or so-called “third party beneficiaries” is a wonderful subject to get to the heart of the meaning of contract and its evolution. Written under the supervision of the well-known Dutch scholar, Eltjo J H Schrage (Amsterdam), this book is unavoidable for anyone who is interested in transnational private law. Sixteen prominent authors from Civil Law, Common Law and mixed legal systems present the historical development and functioning of third party contracts in particular legal systems. Legal history and comparative law, hand in hand, is what European scholars and practitioners need in order to understand and have a critical view of the recent Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR, outline edition February 2009, art II – 9∶301 ff). As a matter of fact, this book is the third one in a series of publications composed by more or less the same working group under Schrage's editorship (all three with joint contributions on Scotland from Hector MacQueen and W David H Sellar). The others are
Eltjo Schrage and David Ibbetson introduce the topic with a very useful co-authored chapter. From Roman law to the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act of 1999 in England, the authors follow and summarise some of the main results of the working group. They analyse common themes, which are then bound together at the end of their presentation (32 ff). The number of rather disparate situations covered by the topic of contracts in favour of third parties makes it difficult to consider common themes. From the Roman law principle
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