ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the doctrine of ‘privity of contract’ and its implications for professional practitioners working as ‘agents’ for clients and considers the significance of ‘statements’, ‘terms’ and ‘representations’. Terms may be implied into a contract by a previous course of dealings between the parties. The doctrine of privity means that a contract cannot confer rights or impose obligations on any person other than a party to the contract. A contract may be discharged, that is to say terminated or brought to an end, by performance; breach; agreement; or by frustration. The breach may be ‘repudiatory’, that is to say, a significant failure to fulfil a condition of the contract, for example an implied term of exercising reasonable skill and care. The claimant must show that s/he has suffered loss or damage as a result of the defendant’s breach of contract and that the loss or damage is not too remote a consequence.
