Category Archives: Unjust enrichment
Chow and Cheung, ‘Constructive trust in cryptoasset fraud: D’Aloia v Persons Unknown and others [2024] EWHC 2342 (Ch)’
ABSTRACT This case note examines the recent case D’Aloia v Persons Unknown and others [2024] EWHC 2342 (Ch), which affirmed the status of cryptoassets as property under common law, and applied traditional legal principles, including unjust enrichment and constructive trust, to address crypto fraud involving Tether (USDT). This case note also highlights the tension between […]
‘Ship sailed, unjust enrichment claim derailed’
It’s a familiar scenario: you contract to provide advice, and you think there has been mission creep. Can you claim a reasonable fee for what you see as the extra you have provided based on the other side being unjustly enriched? Not in this case … (more) [A&O Shearman, 3 November 2025]
Tom Hick, ‘Claiming Back Anticipatory Performance after Failed Negotiations – A Comparative Analysis of Alternatives to Precontractual Liability’
ABSTRACT As a matter of principle, breaking-off negotiations or refusing a contract offer are lawful actions. For based on freedom of contract, each individual is free to contract, free to choose one’s counterpart and the content of the contract, and equally free not to contract. Only exceptionally can a party be held liable for breaking-off […]
Sagi Peari, ‘Kant and mistaken payments: a wrong-based perspective’
ABSTRACT This article sheds light on the contemporary puzzle of mistaken payments. What is the normative basis of the transferor’s right to receive their money back? Under what conditions (if at all) should this right be denied by the transferee? While joining the growing literature which doubts the predominant unjust enrichment rationale, the article also […]
Peter Devonshire, ‘Account of Profits and Contract: Strange Bedfellows or Just Strangers?’
ABSTRACT The orthodox remedy for breach of contract is damages. A cynical breach to minimise loss or exploit more promising economic opportunities is not visited with any greater sanction. This begs the question whether equitable relief in the form of an account of profits should be available in egregious cases. Starting from first principles, it […]
Jordyn Selznick, ‘Enrichment, Exploitation, and the Evasion of Responsibility: A Proposal to Apply the Equitable Doctrine of Unjust Enrichment to Bridge the Accountability Gap and Provide Remedies to the Victims of Forced Labour Abroad’
ABSTRACT The International Labour Organization reported in 2021 that 17.3 million people globally were forced labourers in the private sector. As came to light in the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Nevsun Resources Ltd v Araya, Canadian multinational corporations (‘MNCs’) have used, and continue to use, forced labourers within their global supply chains. Several […]
Conor Hay, ‘Rescinding a mistaken declaration of trust: Sullivan v Sullivan [2025] EWHC 1072 (Ch)’
ABSTRACT When voluntarily disposing of property, a donor may make a mistake of so serious a character that equity permits the rescission of that disposition. This equitable jurisdiction to rescind a mistaken disposition was recently considered by the High Court in Sullivan v Sullivan [2025] EWHC 1072 (Ch), a case concerning the mistaken settlement of […]
Jeanne Schroeder, ‘When Money Isn’t Money: The Second Circuit’s Gutting of the Discharge-For-Value Defense for Erroneous Payments’
INTRODUCTION The law of money is only partially theorized and poorly understood, as illustrated by a recent notorious case in which neither the Second Circuit Court of Appeals nor the litigants appreciated money’s most fundamental characteristic. A functioning currency requires that money be almost perfectly negotiable and payments final. Once one pays money, one almost […]
‘Should Private Law Govern Public Issues? The Case of Improperly Collected Taxes’
Restitutionary claims, in the context of Australian law, are actions aimed at reversing unjust enrichment. So, how does this apply to the restitution of improperly collected taxes and other levies? A recent High Court decision illustrates the significance of restitutionary claims. However, the decision appears to be misguided as improperly collected taxes should be returned […]
Zou and Chen, ‘Unveiling the Mysterious Role of Contractual Disgorgement: A Comparative and Functional Approach’
ABSTRACT Under the contract laws of both common law and civil law jurisdictions, the non-breaching party is typically entitled to expectation damages as compensation for a contractual breach. This aims to restore the non- breaching party to the position they would have had if there had been no breach. Although the doctrine fully compensates the […]