Restitution

This title was first published in 2001. In the Western legal tradition, the history of restitution for unjust enrichment reaches back to pre-classical Roman law. In common law, the roots of unjust enrichment may be said to lie in the fourteenth century; but its history as a subject of academic study is much shorter. The law of restitution has become increasingly important in the courts of the common law world during the last decade. This has generated a great deal of scholarly attention and there has been an explosion of literature as legal academics have addressed the theoretical foundations of the subject, its structure and its underlying principles. This volume collects the most important elements of that literature, organized thematically, to show how the subject is developing and where it is likely to go in the future.

Contents: Scope and Structure: Contract, tort and restitution - a satisfactory division or not? The province of the law of restitution, Lionel D. Smith; The law of restitution at the end of an epoch, Peter Birks. Autonomous Unjust Enrichment: The Nature of Enrichment: Restitutionary claims for services rendered, Gareth Jones; Unjust enrichment and unjust sacrifice, Samuel J. Stoljar; Benefit, reliance and the structure of unjust enrichment, Jack Beatson. Reasons for Restitution: The self-serving intermeddler, John P. Dawson; Necessitous intervention: the altruistic intermeddler and the law of restitution, John D. McCamus. Restitution and Contract: Restitution as a remedy for breach of contract, Andrew Kull; Enforcing Coasian bribes for non-price benefits: a new role for restitution?, Wendy J. Gordon and Tamer Frankel. Proprietary Restitution: The remedial constructive trust: a principled basis for priority over creditors, David M. Paciocco; Relationships 'tantamount to espousal', unjust enrichment and constructive trusts, Ralph E. Scane. Restitution for Wrongs: Restitution of benefits obtained through the appropriation of property or the commission of a wrong, Daniel Friedmann; The gains and losses of corrective justice, Ernest J. Weinrib; Name index.

Lionel Smith