Justifying the Law of Unjust Enrichment

22 Pages Posted: 25 Nov 2015

See all articles by Stephen Smith

Stephen Smith

McGill University - Faculty of Law (deceased)

Date Written: November 24, 2001

Abstract

The scope and status of unjust enrichment law are uncertain because the standard account of the subject raises a significant normative question. Specifically, the standard account appears inconsistent with broadly-held views about how private law should operate. In this essay, I examine what Peter Birks, Lionel Smith, and Hanoch Dagan (three contributors to the Symposium in which this essay appears) say, or don’t say, about this normative question. I then propose an alternative answer to the normative question, one that argues, inter alia, that there is no duty to reverse unjust enrichments.

Keywords: restitution, unjust enrichment, remedies

JEL Classification: K10, K12, K40

Suggested Citation

Smith, Stephen, Justifying the Law of Unjust Enrichment (November 24, 2001). Texas Law Review, Vol. 79, p. 2177-2197, 2001, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2695250

Stephen Smith (Contact Author)

McGill University - Faculty of Law (deceased)

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