Re Examining Contract And Unjust Enrichment

This collection of essays addresses some of the fundamental questions facing the law of contract and of unjust enrichment in the twenty-first century from a comparative perspective. Leading academics from Canada and the United Kingdom analyse the nature and development of the principles of unjust enrichment, their relationship with contract and fiduciary obligations and their impact upon traditional contractual doctrines such as mistake, undue influence, frustration and the assessment of damages. The text provides an insightful, contemporary and provocative examination of this fast-developing area of law.

This collection of essays addresses some of the fundamental questions facing the law of contract and of unjust enrichment in the twenty-first century from a comparative perspective. Leading academics from Canada and the United Kingdom analyse the nature and development of the principles of unjust enrichment, their relationship with contract and fiduciary obligations and their impact upon traditional contractual doctrines such as mistake, undue influence, frustration and the assessment of damages. The text provides an insightful, contemporary and provocative examination of this fast-developing area of law.

This book is the second in a series of essay collections on defences in private law. It addresses defences to liability arising in unjust enrichment. The essays are written from a range of perspectives and methodologies. Some are doctrinal, others are theoretical, and several offer comparative insights. The most important defence in this area of the law, change of position, is addressed in detail, but many other defences are treated too, as well as the interrelations between these defences within the law of unjust enrichment. The essays offer novel claims and ways of looking at problems in this challenging area of legal study.

This ambitious book grapples with the complex debates ongoing on the structure of unjust enrichment, proving to be a major contribution to the field. Responding to the subject's critics, it presents a clearly articulated structure for this branch of private law, arguing that while unjust enrichment has the function of reversing defective enrichments (whether by performance or in another way) there is scope for normative pluralism in how the law achieves this. Drawing heavily on comparative material from Germany, Scotland and South Africa the book then argues for a legal framework which combines elements of the absence of basis and unjust factors approaches. It assesses how that structure can be mapped against the causes of action that make up unjust enrichment, arguing that some are performance claims - reversing a deliberate, intentional performance - and some are non-performance claims. Other claims, often included in books on unjust enrichment, such as “necessity” should be excluded from the subject area. The book concludes with a treatment of defences.

Strict enforcement of unreasonable contracts can produce outrageous consequences. Courts of justice should have the means of avoiding them.

Ranging over a host of issues, Property Rights: A Re-Examination pinpoints and addresses a number of theoretical problems at the heart of property theory. Part 1 reconsiders and rejects, once again, the bundle of rights picture of property and the related nominalist theories of property, showing that ownership reflects a tripartite structure of title: the right to immediate, exclusive, possession, the power to license what would otherwise be a trespass, and the power to transfer ownership. Part 2 explores in detail the Hohfeldian theory of jural relations, in particular liberties and powers and Hohfeld's concept of 'multital' jural relations, and shows that this theory fails to illuminate the nature of property rights, and indeed obscures much that it is vital to understand about them. Part 3 considers the form and justification of property rights, beginning with the relation an owner's liberty to use her property and her 'right to exclude', with particular reference to the tort of nuisance. Next up for consideration is the Kantian theory of property rights, the deficiencies of which lead us to understand that the only natural right to things is a form of use- or usufructory-right. Part 3 concludes by addressing the ever-vexed question of property rights in land.

This is a new type of book. It provides an index of the most useful and important academic and other writings on contract law, whether published in articles or journal chapters, or as books. These writings, with their full citation, are gathered under familiar contract law subject-headings, and the most significant half of them are digested in a summary of a few lines each. The book aims to cover all writings published in the English language about the Common Law of contracts, and includes sections on contract theory and the history of contract law, as well as sections for the more traditional substantive topics (such as the interpretation of contracts, penalty clauses, remoteness of damage and anticipatory breach). This work should prove an invaluable resource for practitioners, academics and students, increasing awareness of important writings, and saving readers time by familiarising them with the work that has already been done in their particular fields.