The subject of the contractual relationship is also called the party to the contract, including creditor And the Debtor. The creditor has the right to request the debtor to perform its obligations in accordance with the law and the provisions of the contract; The debtor shall be obliged to perform certain acts in accordance with laws and contracts. Of course, the position of creditors and debtors is relative. In some contractual relationships, both parties have rights and obligations for each other, that is, the rights enjoyed by one party are the obligations of the other party, and vice versa. Therefore, both parties are creditors and debtors to each other. Since both the creditor and the debtor are relative, it is in this sense that contractual claims are also called relative rights. The specialization of the subject is an important difference between the contractual relationship and the real right relationship, the personal relationship and the intellectual property relationship. However, although the subjects of the contractual relationship are specific, they are not fixed. According to the provisions of laws and contracts, debts can be changed and transferred, so that the subject of debts will also be changed. The content of the contractual relationship refers to the rights of the creditor and the obligations of the debtor, mainly the contractual claims and Contractual debt 。 As a kind of civil legal relationship, contract is the unity of creditor's rights and debts. See the "Contents of the Contract" for details of contractual claims and debts. As a kind of civil legal relationship, contract is different from other civil legal relationships (such as real right legal relationship) in its important characteristics, which is the relativity of contract relationship. The so-called relativity of contractual relationship is usually called the relativity of debt in civil law. It mainly means that contractual relationship can only occur between specific parties to the contract, and only one party to the contract can make a claim or bring a lawsuit against the other party based on the contract; A third party who has no contractual rights and obligations with the parties to the contract cannot make a claim or bring a lawsuit against the parties to the contract according to the contract, nor should it assume the obligations and responsibilities of the contract; A third party cannot claim contractual rights unless in accordance with the law or the contract.
In principle, it is not inferior to the third person; The obligations assumed by the parties under the contract generally cannot bind the third party. Of course, with the development of modern product liability system, many countries' legislation has expanded the guarantee obligations and responsibilities of product manufacturers and distributors to many consumers who have no contractual relationship with them. However, there must be special provisions of the law to assume such responsibilities.
No right to create obligations
It is invalid for the parties to the contract to set the terms of the contract for others. In practice, even if one party has an economic interest relationship with a third person (such as a long-term supply relationship), it must obtain the consent of the third person before setting obligations for it.
The obligation of a general contract is mainly an internal effect, that is, the effect on the parties. However, in order to prevent the creditor's right from being damaged due to the improper reduction of the creditor's property to the debtor, the law allows creditor Exercise the right of revocation and subrogation on certain acts of the debtor and the third party to protect their creditor's rights. The exercise of these two rights involves the third party outside the contractual relationship, and has legal binding force on the third party. Therefore, the preservation of contracts can also be regarded as Privity of contract Exceptions to. It means that the contract relationship can occur between specific subjects, and only one party to the contract can make a request or bring a lawsuit to the other party based on the contract. Specifically, first of all, only the parties to the contractual relationship can make requests to each other; Secondly, one party to the contract can only make contractual claims or litigation to the other party, and cannot make contractual claims or litigation to a third party who has no contractual relationship with him. However, with the development of social economy, the law also endows some creditor's rights with the effect of real right in order to protect the creditors in some contractual relationships and maintain the social and economic order. For example, Article 725 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China stipulates that "if the ownership of the leased object changes during the lease period, the validity of the lease contract will not be affected." This provision is theoretically called "the sale cannot break the lease", which actually endows the lease with the real right effect against the third party. Of course, this situation of creditor's rights in rem is only an exception.
It means that only the parties to a contract can enjoy the rights and assume the obligations specified in the contract, unless otherwise stipulated by laws and contracts. Any third party other than the parties to the contract cannot claim the rights in the contract. In a bilateral contract, the relativity of the contents of the contract also shows that the rights of one party are the obligations of the other party, and only when the other party assumes the obligations can one party enjoy the rights. The rights and obligations are corresponding, so the rights of the obligee must depend on the performance of the obligations of the obligor to realize.
