In particular the question arises as to whether a third party (such as an employee, agent, stevedore, or freight forwarder) may rely upon an exemption clause limiting liability in a contact between two others.
The matter was addressed in Scruttons v Midland Silicones [1961] UKHL 4, where Lord Reid gave guidelines which were subsequently followed in New Zealand Shipping v Sattersthwaite [1974] UKPC 1.
The cases of Norwich CC v Harvey [1989] 1 WLR 828 and Adler v Dickson [1955] 1 QB 158 also shed light on this area of law.
[1] Under federal law, "concepts summarized by the term privity are looked to as a means of determining whether the interests of the party against whom claim preclusion is asserted were represented in prior litigation.
"[2] Therefore, privity in federal common law is "a convenient means of expressing conclusions that are supported by independent analysis.