Third party rights and transport documents under the DCFR – potential for an appropriate and effective EU unification and an improvement for the UK?

In English law has seen many inroads into the principle of privity of contract. In carriage of goods instruments developed separately and were left mostly untouched by the Contract (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. The Scottish Law Commission discussion paper on Third Party Rights in Contract on the modernisation of the principle of jus quaesitum tertio, also suggests to keep carriage of goods apart from general reform, while drawing on both on the English 1999 Act and the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR). This article explores whether shipping law indeed needs to be treated differently and how apt the DCFR principles are.