The Laws of Restitution

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 claim, 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 concern (in)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.

In this work, Stevens identifies and describes the various reasons for "restitution" that any properly constructed system of private law ought to recognise. He also explains how the law of restitution relates to, and is bound up with, areas of contract, torts, equity, and property law.

Robert Stevens, Herbert Smith Freehills Professor of English Private Law, University of Oxford

Robert Stevens is the Herbert Smith Freehills Professor of English Private Law at the University of Oxford. Previously he was a Professor of commercial law at UCL, a lecturer in law at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow and Tutor in Law at Lady Margaret Hall. He is also a commercial barrister and has published widely on many aspects of private law, always seeking to show how the theory of academic law has practical relevance to the law as found in the courts. He is the author of Torts and Rights (OUP, 2007).

ForewordPrefacePart I Introduction1. Summary2. FoundationsPart II Unjustified Performance3. Performance4. Reversal5. Theory6. PracticePart III Conditional Performance7. Conditions8. ContractPart IV Intervention in Another's Affairs9. Discharge10. NecessityPart V Property and Trusts11. Things12. Equity: General13. Equity: Restitution14. ImprovementsPart VI Wrongdoing15. Wrongs16. Profits17. DamagesPart VII Countervailing Reasons18. Defences19. IllegalityPart VIII Apologia20. Conclusion