The enforceability of contractual rights. A study in French and Lebanese comparative law

The notion of opposability, which appeared in French doctrine at the beginning of the last century, is of crucial importance today in relation to legal certainty. Thus, it is generally accepted in contemporary doctrine that such a concept explains the non-obligatory effects of contracts towards third parties and particularly in regard to responsibility. On the one hand, third parties must abstain from any act which may harm others' contracts. If this should occur, parties to the contract could claim compensation for any damage suffered as the result of a convention undertaken by a third party without regard to their rights. On the other hand, and in parallel, a third-party victim is entitled to make a tort claim against a co-contracting party failed to fulfill a contractual obligation

when this would be prejudicial to him. Having said that, there is an ever-increasing number of authors for whom opposability cannot be used to support the two preceding rules. However, this criticism is not completely justified. Indeed, an in-depth study of the exact meaning, of the basis and of the determining characteristics of opposability show that, given a fair definition of the boundaries, this notion remains useful, if not indispensable to protect parties to a contract and third parties.