Characterisation and choice of law for knowing receipt

• Main Author: CHONG, Adeline
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2023
• Subjects: private international law; conflict of laws; choice of law; knowing receipt; characterisation; restitution; unjust enrichment; equity; tort; wrongs; property; Rome II Regulation; Comparative and Foreign Law; Conflict of Laws; International Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4034; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/5992/viewcontent/Chong_Characterisation_and_Choice_of_Law_for_Knowing_Receipt__2023__72_ICLQ_147_177.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Knowing receipt requires the satisfaction of disparate elements under English domestic law. Its characterisation under domestic law is also unsettled. These in turn affect the issues of characterisation and choice of law at the private international law level as knowing receipt sits at the intersection of the laws of equity, restitution, wrongs and property. This paper argues that under the common law, knowing receipt ought to be considered as sui generis for choice of law purposes and governed by the law of closest connection to the claim. Where the Rome II Regulation applies, knowing receipt fits better within the tort rather than unjust enrichment category and the escape clause in Article 4(3) of the Regulation ought to apply.