Unjust(ified) enrichment

• Main Authors: CHONG, Adeline, LÜTTRINGHAUS, Jan
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: unjust enrichment; civil law; common law; Civil Law; Common Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3980; https://search.library.smu.edu.sg/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma99652988502601&context=L&vid=65SMU_INST:SMU_NUI&lang=en&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,A%20guide%20to%20global%20private%20international%20law&offset=0
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Under Roman law it was considered ‘ a fundamental principle of natural justice that no one ought unjustly to enrich himself at the expense of another ’ . This principle pervades the common law, though seeing it as a discrete area of law was much more belated. The concept, role and scope of unjust(ified) enrichment vary across different legal systems, even within those with the same legal tradition. This chapter analyses unjust enrichment claims from the perspective of both the common law and civil law. It discusses the substantive laws on unjust enrichment (section II), jurisdiction (section III) and applicable law (section IV) from both the common law and civil law perpectives. For the latter, the various private international law instruments of the European Union (EU) are treated as being emblematic of the civil law approach, although of course, the EU Regulations also apply to a small handful of common law countries. Based on this comparative approach, a proposal is made for a global solution to the applicable law for unjust enrichment (section IV.C), before concluding (section V).