PLS I - Week 7 Introduction to Unjustified Enrichment and Negotorium Gestio (2024) PDF

Introduction to Unjustified Enrichment and Negotorium Gestio Welcome to PLS I – Week 7 with Dr Lorna Gillies Unjustified Enrichment and Negotorium Gestio: An Introduction Our focus: Where one person is without cause enriched at another’s expense, when will the law allow...

Introduction to Unjustified Enrichment and Negotorium Gestio Welcome to PLS I – Week 7 with Dr Lorna Gillies Unjustified Enrichment and Negotorium Gestio: An Introduction Our focus: Where one person is without cause enriched at another’s expense, when will the law allow that enrichment to be reversed? Note Reading for this Particular Lecture Recommended: MacQueen and Thomson 1.22-1.27 Further reading: MacQueen (2009) Unjustified Enrichment (2nd ed.) Thomson Reuters/W. Green.  What is Unjust Enrichment? A concept first considered by Roman jurists Quasi-Contract Ulpian, Edict, book 26: If someone mistakenly pays what is not due he can recover by this condictio [the condictio indebiti] (D.12.6.1.1.)  Some Further Terms! condictio indebiti – a claim for repayment of a sum not due condictio causa data causa non secuta – a claim for something given for a cause that has failed condictio ob turpem vel iniustam causam – a claim for something given for a corrupt or unlawful cause condictio sine causa – a ‘sweep up’ claim for things given without a legal basis  Meaning of Enrichment Increase in assets or decrease in liabilities Receiving a service or having work done Use of another’s assets  At Another’s Expense Decrease in assets or increase in liabilities Rendering a service or doing work Use by another person of one’s assets  Enrichment must be Unjustified Unsupported by legal grounds so not e.g., A legacy Arising under contract A court order  Case Example 1 Cantiere San Rocco SA v Clyde Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd 1923 SC (HL) 10 Contract for supply of marine engines First instalment paid War breaks out How do Cantiere get their money back?  Case Example 2 Morgan Guaranty Trust Co of New York v Lothian Regional Council 1995 SC 151 Complex financial arrangement Contract turned out be void Could the bank get their money back? Was the Roman Law position clear?  Case Example 3 Shilliday v Smith 1998 SC 725 A couple who lived together, became engaged and then separated The pursuer paid for work to be done on the defender’s property “A person may be said to be unjustly enriched at another’s expense when he has obtained a benefit from the other’s actings or expenditure, without there being a legal ground which would justify him in retaining that benefit” per Lord Rodger  Remedies Three R’s Repetition – return of money Restitution – return of property Recompense – repayment of unjustified expenditure or for unjustified use  Example of Remedies from Case Law Dollar Land (Cumbernauld) Ltd v CIN Properties Ltd 1998 SC (HL) “These actions [repetition, restitution, recompense] were all means to the same end… they are being used merely to describe the nature of the remedy which the court is being asked to provide in order to address the enrichment” per Lord Hope  Negotiorum Gestio Another concept first considered by Roman jurists One person (the gestor) intervenes without authorisation in the affairs of another person (contrast with agency) With requirements:- That other person must be absent, unaware or incapable The gestor must act for the other person’s benefit but expect to recover their expenses The intervention must have been useful