Gabriela Shalev

General Comments on Contracts (General Part) Law, 1973

The Contracts (General Part) Law, 1973 (hereinafter called the present Law), which has recently come into effect, constitutes the first chapter of an independent Israel Civil Code. Owing to the exigencies of time, laws regulating specific contractual transactions were enacted before the present Law; eight other enactments - the Agency Law, the Bailees Law, the Guarantee Law, the Pledge Law, the Sale Law, the Gift Law, the Transfer of Obligations Law, the Hire and Loan Law, - having already been introduced. Sec. 61(a) of the present Law which contemplates a possible conflict between these specific enactments and its own provisions, excludes the application of the present Law as lex generalis in the event of conflict between the general principles it embodies and the specific regulations of these Laws. It is, however, clear that in the absence of any specific arrangement the provisions of the present Law will apply and that where such an arrangement exists the provisions of the present Law will supplement it.

Third Party Beneficiary: A Comparative Analysis *

This paper is a comparative analysis of the institution of third party beneficiary. The analysis will consist of a presentation and critical examination of the central concepts and doctrines involved in the institution under discussion, and it will be combined with a comparative survey of the arrangements adopted in various legal systems. The choice of this approach stems from the particular circumstances of the new legislation.

Exemption Clauses and Third Parties in English and Israeli Law

An exemption clause which purports to affect the rights and liabilities of a stranger to the contract raises the question of the connection between privity and exemption clauses. It is usual to regard the denial of validity to an exemption clause referring to the liability of a stranger as deriving from privity. Let us therefore commence by clarifying the meaning of privity and its relationship to exemption clauses and then go on to explain our view that such clauses should operate in favour or against a stranger in accordance with general principles of the positive contract law. Since privity has two aspects - denying a contract the capacity neither to benefit nor to harm a stranger - our treatment of the influence of privity upon exemption clauses will likewise deal with exempting a stranger and fettering him. After describing the situation in English law, we will turn to Israeli law which is no longer identical with English law, regarding the relationship between privity and exemption clauses.

Forty Years of Contract Law

With the establishment of the State of Israel and the enactment of sec. 11 of the Law and Administration Ordinance, 1948, Israeli law absorbed the Mandatory law which had applied prior to independence. Israeli contract law of forty years ago was comprised of two main components: Ottoman law and English law.