Commencing with a brief history of restitution, the book proceeds to illustrate the diverse legal problems addressed by the law of restitution. The legal doctrines now collected under this heading are demonstrated to have had a gap-filling role in law, much like the diverse doctrines of equity have done.
The book questions the underlying basis for unjust enrichment theories and demonstrates their inadequacy as descriptions and explanations of restitution. The book then sets out alternative methods of organizing and rationalizing the topics of restitution.
The approach adopted rejects an explanation of liability in restitution on the basis of a defendant's unjust enrichment and thus challenges much of the current academic and judicial writing in the field. Instead, the approach adopted is to emphasize the relevance of a defendant's conduct in determining the nature and extent of any liability imposed.
Table of Contents
PART ONE
CHAPTER 1: Venturing into the Restitution Thicket
CHAPTER 2: A Brief History of Restitution
CHAPTER 3: The Meaning of Unjust Enrichment
CHAPTER 4: The Failure of Unjust Enrichment
PART TWO
CHAPTER 5: A New Perspective on Restitution
CHAPTER 6: Fault-Based Liability: Breach of Contract-Like or Tort-Like duties
CHAPTER 7: Common Interests: The Consequences of Unprovided for Contingencies
CHAPTER 8: Justifiable Sacrifice: Allocating the Costs of Justifiable Conduct
CHAPTER 9: Innocent Recipients of Money and Services
CHAPTER 10: Restitution: The Future
Table of Cases
Table of Statutes
Select Bibliography
Index