2015-10-13
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In general, a person who benefits from something such as an insurance policy or other contract is called a beneficiary. Every person benefits directly from countless contracts executed by other people over the years. The machinery of agriculture and industry, the warehouses and stores of commerce, and the planes, trains, and ships of transport are the result of a mass of interrelated contracts. All persons who use these facilities or enjoy their products and services are incidental beneficiaries. An incidental beneficiary is the one who benefits from a contract (for example, from any of the underlying contracts), yet is not a party to the contract and may not enforce it.
As a general rule, only parties who have entered into a contract have enforceable rights under it. This is true even though other persons may gain some advantage by having the contract performed. There are two important exceptions to this rule:
1 most enforceable rights that arise under a contract can be transferred to a third person by assignment and can then be forced by that person;
2 when a contract is made with the primary intention of benefiting a third person, that person is entitled to enforce the agreement.
Contracts made specifically for the benefit of a third party can usually be enforced by that person. The third party beneficiary, then, is the one for whose benefit such a contract is made. Life insurance contracts are the most common form of third party beneficiary agreements. Parents, for example, in contracts with insurance companies, often name their children as beneficiaries.
Vocabulary
legal injury гражданский вред
insurance policy страховой полис
to benefit извлекать пользу; приносить пользу
incidental beneficiary [,beni’fi∫əri] бенефициарий, выгодоприобретатель без осуществления прав (сторона, которая по условиям контракта не должна получать)
third party beneficiary побочный бенефициарий (третья сторона, не участник контракта, но получающая выгоду)
enforceable rights права, имеющие исковую силу
