The Laws of Restitution | 2023

In The Laws of Restitution, Robert Stevens seeks to show that there is no unified law of restitution or unjust enrichment. This is in contrast to the traditional view of restitution which has long been thought to be reducible to a single “unjust enrichment”.

The author proposes that there are instead (depending on how you count them) seven or eight different kinds of private law claims, none of which have anything important in common one with another, that have been grouped together by commentators. Few of these claims have anything to do with enrichment, and what is restituted differs between them. Like all private law claims, those gathered here are concerned (with)justice between individuals, but they have no further unity. Many of them are not based upon an agreement or a wrong, but that negative feature has no utility. As such, Stevens argues that “restitution” or “unjust enrichment” should cease to be discussed as unified areas of law.

-A stimulating work that challenges established views of unjust enrichment
-Explains how restitution relates to contracts, torts, equity, and property law
-Written by an expert author who has been cited by the ultimate appellate courts of Australia, Canada, and the UK
-Fleshes out arguments that have been employed by the UK Supreme Court
-Covers a large area of private law in detail

Contents:
-Foreword
-Preface
Part I: Introduction
1:Summary
2:Foundations

Part II: Unjustified Performance
3:Performance
4:Reversal
5:Theory
6:Practice

Part III: Conditional Performance
7:Conditions
8:Contract

Part IV: Intervention in Another’s Affairs
9:Discharge
10:Necessity

Part V: Property and Trusts
11:Things
12:Equity: General
13:Equity: Restitution
14:Improvements

Part VI: Wrongdoing
15:Wrongs
16:Profits
17:Damages

Part VII: Countervailing Reasons
18:Defences
19:Illegality

Part VIII: Apologia
20:Conclusion