A NEWLY RECOGNIZED AND PARTICULARLY DIFFICULT AREA OF LAW FULLY EXPLAINED
An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers
'The law of unjust enrichment is a newly recognized subject,’ states Andrew Burrows in his introduction to this erudite new book published recently by the Oxford University Press.
Thorough and scholarly, yet eminently readable, it expounds on a particularly abstruse and therefore fascinating area of law; fascinating that is, if you can understand it, which this book should certainly enable you to do.
'Unjust enrichment’ can be viewed today as an emerging modern equitable doctrine to cover the main substantive law areas of contract and tort with specific reference to what we called restitution. Call it an exercise if you will, in the availability and use of an updated equitable remedy, which is now more accurately described as 'unjust enrichment’.
It could be argued that the very term 'unjust enrichment’ is more or less self-explanatory in that it all too often refers, basically, to people taking money for themselves on an intimidatingly wide range of pretexts, especially in contract and tort, many of them quite ingenious schemes.
The purpose of Burrows’ book, as we see it, is to unravel the intricacies of the original legal principles behind unjust enrichment – and many of them are intricate indeed.
This restatement by Burrows of the equitable remedy of unjust enrichment is therefore timely. He has support from an advisory group of nineteen, no less, academics, judges and practitioners.
'The vast bulk of the law of unjust enrichment,’ he explains,’ is concerned with the reversal of enrichment.’ Interestingly, he reminds us in the introduction that the favoured name for this subject until quite recently was the law of restitution. 'A restatement,’ he adds, 'can remove, or at least reduce, those difficulties’.
Unjust enrichment is thus carefully, extensively yet precisely defined in this volume, which you can read from cover to cover quickly, or dip into as a work of reference in an attempt to shed light on any number of conundrums, many of them quite topical.
This in our view is an important book of direct relevance for practitioners, academics and the judiciary alike. The Restatement itself is supported throughout by full commentary and illustrative cases, both real and hypothetical. The tables of statutes and cases, as well as the index provide useful tools for further enquiry and research. The Restatement is based on the law as at 30 June 2012.