Unjust Enrichment

by Birks, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780199276981
• ISBN10: 0199276986
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-04-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This new edition of Unjust Enrichment by the editor of the Clarendon Law Series, is a fully updated, clear and concise account of the law of unjust enrichment. It attempts to move away from the use of obscure terminology inherited from the past. This text is the first book to insist on the switch from restitution to unjust enrichment, from response to event. It organises modern law around five simple questions: Was the defendant enriched? If so, was it at the claimant's expense? If so, was it unjust? The fourth question is then what kindof right the claimant has, and the fifth is whether the defendant has any defences. This second edition was revised and updated by Peter Birks before his death from cancer on 6 July 2004 at the age of 62. It represents the final thinking of the world's leading authority on the subject.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Preface to the Second Edition	ix
Preface to the First Edition	xi
Table of Cases	xxi
Table of Statutes and Foreign Legislation	xxxiv
Part I. Introduction
1. A Core Case	3	(17)
A. Tertium Quid	5	(4)
B. As Labrador to Dog	9	(2)
C. Restitution Outside Unjust Enrichment	11	(5)
D. Conclusion	16	(4)
2. Three Maps	20	(29)
A. The First Map: Event-Based Classification	21	(7)
1. Four Columns	21	(3)
2. The Grid: Stripes across the Columns	24	(4)
B. The Second Map: Property and Obligations	28	(10)
1. Rights in personam (Obligations) and Rights in rem (Property)	28	(2)
2. Unjust Enrichment and the Law of Obligations	30	(2)
3. Unjust Enrichment and the Law of Property	32	(6)
C. The Third Map: Inside Unjust Enrichment	38	(7)
1. The Five-Question Analysis	39	(1)
2. Unjust Factors and Enrichment with No Basis	40	(5)
D. Conclusion	45	(4)
Part II. Enrichment at the Expense of the Claimant
3. Enrichment	49	(24)
A. Wealth and Not-Wealth	50	(2)
B. Enrichment as Value Measured by Money	52	(11)
1. Money Received	53	(1)
2. Enrichments in Kind	53	(2)
3. Five Exceptional Situations	55	(7)
4. Extant Enrichment and Instant Disenrichment	62	(1)
C. Where Property does not Pass	63	(6)
1. Pre-Existing Title Survives	64	(4)
2. New Proprietary Rights	68	(1)
D. Two Conceptions of Wealth	69	(2)
E. Conclusion	71	(2)
4. At the Expense of the Claimant	73	(28)
A. The 'Wrong' Sense	74	(1)
B. The 'From' Sense	74	(12)
1. Interceptive Subtractions	75	(3)
2. Corresponding Loss?	78	(8)
C. The Immediate Enrichee	86	(3)
1. The Proprietary Connection	86	(1)
2. Enrichments Conferred by One but Procured by Another	87	(2)
D. Leapfrogging	89	(9)
1. Initially Valid Contracts	89	(4)
2. No Initial Contract	93	(5)
E. Conclusion	98	(3)
Part III. Unjust
5. Changing Direction	101	(28)
A. Two Methods	102
1. The Civilian Approach: No Explanatory Basis	102	(3)
2. The Common Law Approach: Unjust Factors	105
B. The Swaps Cases	10	(103)
1. Swaps and Void Swaps	109	(1)
2. Closed Swaps and Interrupted Swaps	109	(3)
3. No Going Back	112	(1)
C. No Possibility of Integration	113	(4)
1. Absence of Basis is not Another Unjust Factor	114	(2)
2. The Pyramid: A Limited Reconciliation	116	(1)
D. Foundations of Absence of Basis	117	(10)
1. The Language of Absence of Basis	117	(2)
2. Total Failure and Partial Failure	119	(6)
3. Degrees of Invalidity	125	(2)
E. Conclusion	127	(2)
6. Absence of Basis	129	(34)
A. Obligatory Enrichments	130	(12)
1. Initial Failure of Basis	131	(9)
2. Subsequent Failure of Basis	140	(2)
B. Voluntary Enrichments	142	(12)
1. Contract	143	(3)
2. Trust	146	(2)
3. Gift	148	(4)
4. Other Purposes	152	(2)
C. Non-Participatory Enrichments	154	(6)
1. At Law	155	(1)
2. In Equity	156	(2)
3. By-Benefits	158	(2)
D. Conclusion	160	(3)
Part IV. The Right to Restitution
7. Rights in personam	163	(17)
A. Three Synonyms	164	(2)
B. Structural Symmetry with Wrongs	166	(1)
C. The Content of the Right in personam	167	(4)
1. An Immediate Right to the Value of the Enrichment Received	168	(1)
2. No Personal Right to be Given Specific Things	169	(1)
3. A Specialized Case: The Right to be Subrogated to a Claim	170	(1)
D. Universality	171	(7)
1. Surviving Enrichment	172	(1)
2. Voidable Transfers	173	(5)
E. Conclusion	178	(2)
8. Rights in rem	180	(27)
A. Laying the Cards on the Table	181	(1)
B. Different Proprietary Responses	182	(3)
1. Immediately Vested Beneficial Rights in rem	183	(1)
2. Powers in rem	183	(1)
3. Security Interests	184	(1)
C. Incidence	185	(18)
1. Initial Failure	185	(9)
2. Subsequent Failure	194	(4)
3. Traceable Substitutes	198	(3)
4. Beneficial Interest or Security Interest	201	(2)
D. Conclusion	203	(4)
Part V. Defences
9. Disenrichment and Disimpoverishment	207	(17)
A. Disenrichment	208	(11)
1. Disenrichment and Change of Position	208	(1)
2. Rationale	209	(1)
3. Relevant Disenrichments	210	(3)
4. Disqualification	213	(6)
B. Disimpoverishment	219	(2)
C. Overlapping Nominate Defences	221	(1)
D. Conclusion	222	(2)
10. Unjust-Related Defences	224	(43)
A. Unjust Enrichment of the Claimant	224	(8)
1. Counter-Restitution	225	(4)
2. Election	229	(1)
3. A Statutory Defence in Tax Cases	230	(2)
B. Finality	232	(8)
1. Res Judicata	233	(1)
2. Capitulation After Initiation of Legal Proceedings	233	(1)
3. Contract for Finality	234	(1)
4. Estoppel	235	(1)
5. Limitation and Laches	236	(4)
C. Stultification	240	(18)
1. Bona Fide Purchase from a Third Party	240	(5)
2. Ministerial Receipt	245	(2)
3. Illegality	247	(6)
4. Incapacity	253	(2)
5. Informality	255	(2)
6. Where a Natural Obligation Survives the Invalidity	257	(1)
D. Residual Cases	258	(5)
1. Non-Disenriching Changes of Position	258	(3)
2. Turpitude	261	(1)
3. Minority	261	(2)
E. Conclusion	263	(4)
Part VI. Competing Terminology
11. Competing Generics	267	(17)
A. Outdated Generics	267	(7)
1. Quasi-Contract	267	(4)
2. Implied or Constructive Contract	271	(3)
B. Modern Competitors	274	(9)
1. Unjustified or Unconscionable Enrichment	274	(3)
2. Restitution	277	(6)
C. Conclusion	283	(1)
12. Persistent Fragments	284	(25)
A. Common Law	285	(7)
1. Background: The Forms of Action	285	(1)
2. Money Had and Received and Three Other Actions	286	(4)
3. Needless Delay	290	(2)
B. Chancery	292	(15)
1. Rights in personam	293	(5)
2. Rights in rem	298	(9)
C. Conclusion	307	(2)
Index	309