Draft third party rights bill goes out to views

A draft bill on third party rights in Scottish contracts has been published by the Scottish Law Commission for views, in a brief consultation ahead of the publication of a report by the Commission.

The topic forms part of the Commission's longrunning project on aspects of contract law. A discussion paper issued in March 2014 considered why reform might be necessary, and suggested the circumstances in which third party rights – rights that can be claimed by someone who is not a party to the contract – might in future be taken to arise.

The Commission aims to publish its report and draft bill within the next few months. Before it does so, it is keen to hear views on the draft bill, which it has now put out for views, along with some draft explanatory notes (click here for links to both documents).

Comments are requested ideally by 22 January 2016, failing which by the end of January.  

Following this work the Commission intends to publish a paper in the summer of 2016 on penalty clauses, which will take into consideration the recent UK Supreme Court cases on the subject. A discussion paper on breach of contract is also scheduled for this year.