Third party rights—welcome guidance from the high court
Construction analysis: There is a ‘a dearth of case law’on section 1(1) of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 (C(RTP)A 1999), as observed by Lenon KC, the judge in the case of HNW Lending Ltd v Lawrence. While an accurate assessment, the judge would have been well within his rights to add (but didn’t) that the dearth of caselaw extends to the entire Act, not just C(RTP)A 1999, s 1(1). This is surprising given the rising prevalence of reliance on C(RTP)A 1999 in com-mercial contracts (and perhaps most frequently, construction contracts) since its introduction in 1999. Therefore, this case is particularly welcome and in this In-sight, Kevin Henderson, associate at BCLP takes a look at what we can learn from it.