Restitution of Unjust Enrichment

Restitution of Unjust Enrichment is concerned with how and when a claimant can obtain a court order compelling a defendant to surrender to the claimant an enrichment gained at the claimant’s expense. Now seen by some as just as fundamental to private law as contract and tort, unjust enrichment was long neglected as a subject. In fact, the BCL seminars in this course were an important force in the rise to prominence of unjust enrichment in the later part of the last century. It continues to be one of the most exciting subjects in the postgraduate curriculum, providing both new perspectives on some key topics covered in private law undergraduate courses, and an examination of commercially important issues which lie outside such courses. Focusing on English law, but including significant cases and writing from other jurisdictions, the aim of the course is to test different explanations for the patterns of liability which are seen in the case-law and which the highest courts continue to shape.

This course is concerned only with restitution of unjust enrichment. Restitution for Wrongs is not part of the course and is dealt with in the Commercial Remedies course.

Assessment is by way of an examination.