Through recent changes in Dutch (1992) and English (1999) private law, contracts for a third-party beneficiary are, in Western Europe, nowadays considered to be effective and enforceable. This concept is, however, incompatible with both the civilian tradition on the continent and the traditional parties-only rule of English common law. The purpose of this study is to show how the problem of the third-party beneficiary was dealt with during the various periods of Western legal thought and to discuss the subject from the perspective of present-day comparative law. The book is of interest not...