Glossary

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Restitution - LAWS3079

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Sydney

Career: Undergraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: Crime & Criminal Process (LAWS1021/JURD7121) & Criminal Laws (LAWS1022/JURD7122) OR Crim. Law 1 (LAWS1001/JURD7101) & Crim. Law 2 (LAWS1011/JURD7111). Co-requisite: Litigation 1 [LAWS2311/ JURD7211] OR Res. Civil Disp. (LAWS2371/JURD7271)

Excluded: JURD7379

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

Unjust enrichment, along with such subjects as contract and tort, is one of the law's primary sources of rights and obligations. This course examines unjust enrichment, and the law's response to unjust enrichment, called restitution. Liability in unjust enrichment is encapsulated in the phrase "unjust enrichment at the expense of the plaintiff". We commence with enrichment. Not all benefits received by the defendant are enriching and the courts have developed tests to determine whether the defendant is enriched and whether this enrichment is at the plaintiff's expense. The next question is injustice, this question being answered by the unjust factors. We will cover various unjust factors, including mistake, failure of basis and policy motivated unjust factors. Finally, we will look at two defences: change of position and estoppel.

Recommended Prior Knowledge

None

Course Objectives

Having completed this course, students should be:

Familiar with the Birksian taxonomy of private law events and responses
Able to analyse critically the elements of a claim in unjust enrichment and the place of that claim in the private law of Australia
Able to evaluate the policy debates and approaches to law reform, both judge made and legislative, concerning the legal issues covered in this course such as the place of unjust enrichment on the private law map, the relationship between law and equity, the relationship between gain based and loss based claims and the elements of a claim in unjust enrichment
Able to analyse critically the unjust enrichment claims of various parties and their right to restitution
Able to apply their knowledge of the areas of law covered in the course to solve relevant legal problems
Able to form and express a reasoned view on both legal problems and also policy debates

Main Topics

Introduction to unjust enrichment and restitution
Unjust factors I: Mistake and ignorance
Unjust factors II: Failure of basis
Unjust factors III: Absence of basis
Unjust factors IV: Policy motivated claims
Defences to claims in unjust enrichment

Assessment

Class participation - 20% (opt in and maximisable)

Mid-Semester Exam - 30%

Final Exam - 50% or 70% (depending on class participation)
OR
5,000 word Research Essay - 50% or 70% (depending on class participation)

Course Texts

Prescribed
K Barker and R Grantham Unjust Enrichment (Lexis Nexis Butterworths 2008)

Recommended
Edelman, J, Bant, E, Unjust Enrichment in Australia, 2006, Oxford University Press

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