3.5 Doctrine of Privity of Contract

The rule: the stranger to a contract cannot sue on it — only the parties acquire rights and bear burdens (the third party neither liable on the promise nor entitled to it); the twin with consideration: the stranger supplies none and sues on nothing. The recognized exceptions (the exam list): Trust or beneficiary — the trust's beneficiary enforcing the settlement (the family- arrangement's third-party rights — marriage-and-partition settlements: Family Law's and Property Law's frames); Assignment — the contractual right's transfer to the third party (Unit 9's assignment machinery as the statutory bridge); Agency — the agent's acts binding the principal (the third party's rights through the agent: Unit 14); Estoppel — the promisor's representation creating the third party's reliance-rights; The protective statutes' privity-piercing — the insurance beneficiary, the consumer's direct claims (the modern drift). The Nepali frame: the Code's privity-and-assignment interface; the courts' third-party- beneficiary practice (the settlement-and-family-arrangement enforcement); the codification's direction — the civilian systems' broader third-party-beneficiary recognition against the common law's traditional narrowness. Exam Focus Long questions: "Define consideration. Has the Civil Code 2074 changed the 'no consideration no contract' rule? Discuss with case law." / "Explain the doctrine of privity of contract with its exceptions." / "Explain promissory estoppel with its requirements and limits." Short questions: nudum pactum; past consideration; sufficiency vs. adequacy; the peppercorn; time-barred debt;…