This inter-disciplinary volume brings together scholars from across the globe to challenge the dominant position of unjust enrichment and suggest more satisfactory alternatives. Rethinking Unjust Enrichment includes a broad range of voices from the UK, US, Australia, Canada, China, Singapore, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and South America. The book includes voices of sceptics who think that the current unjust enrichment doctrine must be seriously qualified and others who think that it should be eliminated altogether. The contributions cast doubt on the various parameters of unjust enrichment from an analytical standpoint, representing four interrelated perspectives: history, sociology, doctrine, and theory. The four-limb structure of the book provides readers with a clear understanding of the current problems of unjust enrichment at the deepest levels of its history, sociological forces, doctrinal fallacies, and normative deficiencies. This treatment of the subject serves as the basis for a comprehensive reform across jurisdictions. Comprehensive and multi-faceted, Rethinking Unjust Enrichment is interesting to both sceptics and supporters of the unjust enrichment. It facilitates a critical and constructive dialogue between the two.

‘Rethinking’ legal reasoning seems a bold aim given the large amount of literature devoted to this topic. In this thought-provoking book, Geoffrey Samuel proposes a different way of approaching legal reasoning by examining the topic through the context of legal knowledge (epistemology). What is it to have knowledge of legal reasoning?

Conventional thinking teaches that the absence of liability - in particular contractual invalidity - is itself the reason for the restitution of transfers in the South African law of unjustified enrichment. However, this book argues that while the absence of a relationship of indebtedness is a necessary condition for restitution in such cases, it is not a sufficient condition. The book takes as its focus those instances in which the invalidity thesis is strongest, namely, those traditionally classified as instances of the condictio indebiti, the claim to recover undue transfers. It seeks to demonstrate that in all such instances it is necessary for the plaintiff to show not only the absence of his liability to transfer but also a specific reason for restitution, such as mistake, compulsion or incapacity. Furthermore, this book explores the reasons for the rise of unjust factors in South African law, attributing this development in part to the influence of the Roman-Dutch restitutio in integrum, an extraordinary, equitable remedy that has historically operated independently of the established enrichment remedies of the civilian tradition, and which even now remains imperfectly integrated into the substantive law of enrichment. Finally, the book seeks to defend in principled terms the mixed approach to enrichment by transfer (an approach based both on unjust factors and on the absence of a legal ground) which appears to characterise modern South African law. It advocates the rationalisation of the causes of action comprised within the condictio indebiti, many of which are subject to additional historically-determined requirements, in light of this mixed analysis.

This book focuses on the subject of choice of law as a whole and provides an analysis of its various rules, principles, doctrines and concepts. It offers a conceptual account of choice of law, called "choice equality foundation" (CEF), which aims to flesh out the normative basis of the subject. The author reveals that, despite the multiplicity of titles and labels within the myriad choice of law rules and practices of the U.S., Canadian, European, Australian, and other systems, many of them effectively confirm and crystallize CEF's vision of the subject. This alignment signifies the necessarily intimate relationship between theory and practice by which the normative underpinnings of CEF are deeply embedded and reflected in actual practical reality. Among other things, this book provides a justification of the nature and limits of such popular principles as party autonomy, most significant relationship, and closest connection. It also discusses such topics as the actual operation of public policy doctrine in domestic courts, and the relation between the notion of international human rights and international commercial dealings, and makes some suggestions about the ability of traditional rules to cope with the advancing challenges of the digital age and the Internet.

Acclaim for the first edition: ïThis is a very important and immense book. . . The Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law is a treasure-trove of honed knowledge of the laws of many countries. It is a reference book for dipping into, time and time again. It is worth every penny and there is not another as comprehensive in its coverage as ElgarÍs. I highly recommend the Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law to all English chambers. This is a very important book that should be sitting in every university law school library.Í _ Sally Ramage, The Criminal Lawyer Containing newly updated versions of existing entries and adding several important new entries, this second edition of the Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law takes stock of present-day comparative law scholarship. Written by leading authorities in their respective fields, the contributions in this accessible book cover and combine not only questions regarding the methodology of comparative law, but also specific areas of law (such as administrative law and criminal law) and specific topics (such as accident compensation and consideration). In addition, the Encyclopedia contains reports on a selected set of countriesÍ legal systems and, as a whole, presents an overview of the current state of affairs. Providing its readers with a unique point of reference, as well as stimulus for further research, this volume is an indispensable tool for anyone interested in comparative law, especially academics, students and practitioners.

This ambitious book grapples with the complex debates ongoing on the structure of unjust enrichment, proving to be a major contribution to the field. Responding to the subject's critics, it presents a clearly articulated structure for this branch of private law, arguing that while unjust enrichment has the function of reversing defective enrichments (whether by performance or in another way) there is scope for normative pluralism in how the law achieves this. Drawing heavily on comparative material from Germany, Scotland and South Africa the book then argues for a legal framework which combines elements of the absence of basis and unjust factors approaches. It assesses how that structure can be mapped against the causes of action that make up unjust enrichment, arguing that some are performance claims - reversing a deliberate, intentional performance - and some are non-performance claims. Other claims, often included in books on unjust enrichment, such as “necessity” should be excluded from the subject area. The book concludes with a treatment of defences.

Unjustified enrichment has been one of the most intellectually vital areas of private law. There is, however, still no unanimity among civil-law and common-law legal systems about how to structure this important branch of the law of obligations. Several key issues are considered comparatively in this 2002 book, including grounds for recovery of enrichment, defences, third-party enrichment, as well as proprietary and taxonomic questions. Two contributors deal with each topic, one a representative of a common-law system, the other a representative of a civil-law or mixed system. This approach illuminates not just similarities or differences between systems, but also what different systems can learn from one another. In an area of law whose territory is still partially uncharted and whose borders are contested, such comparative perspectives will be valuable for both academic analysis of the law and its development by the courts.

This fully revised and updated second edition of The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law provides a wide-ranging and diverse critical survey of comparative law at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It summarizes and evaluates a discipline that is time-honoured but not easily understood in all its dimensions. In the current era of globalization, this discipline is more relevant than ever, both on the academic and on the practical level. The Handbook is divided into three main sections. Section I surveys how comparative law has developed and where it stands today in various parts of the world. This includes not only traditional model jurisdictions, such as France, Germany, and the United States, but also other regions like Eastern Europe, East Asia, and Latin America. Section II then discusses the major approaches to comparative law - its methods, goals, and its relationship with other fields, such as legal history, economics, and linguistics. Finally, section III deals with the status of comparative studies in over a dozen subject matter areas, including the major categories of private, economic, public, and criminal law. The Handbook contains forty-eight chapters written by experts from around the world. The aim of each chapter is to provide an accessible, original, and critical account of the current state of comparative law in its respective area which will help to shape the agenda in the years to come. Each chapter also includes a short bibliography referencing the definitive works in the field.

This comprehensive yet accessible Research Handbook offers an expert guide to the key concepts, principles and debates in the modern law of unjust enrichment and restitution.

This book provides a comprehensive and thorough analysis of the legal framework for the treatment of international negotiable instruments. It considers the approach within and across major legal systems and pinpoints the key distinctions for the application of choice of law rules.