Restitution, unjust enrichment and related claims

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What is a restitutionary claim?

Restitution in English law is a remedy that aims to restore to an innocent party the gains that someone else has obtained from them.

In Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale, the House of Lords gave formal recognition to the law of restitution as being separate to any element of contract law—the law of restitution is not based upon implied contract; rather it is based upon the principle that unjust enrichments must be reversed. This independence of the law of restitution and its foundation in the principle that unjust enrichments must be reversed and the need to distinguish clearly between the law of contract and the law of restitution was affirmed by the House of Lords in their 1998 decision in Banque Financière de la Cité v Parc (Battersea) Ltd.

Restitution can be divided into two distinct categories:

  1. •

    restitution for unjust enrichment, and

  2. •

    restitution for wrongdoing

Commonly recognised scenarios arising when discussing restitutionary claims include:

  1. •

    actions for money had and received (unjust enrichment)

  2. •

    restitutionary damages for equitable or tortious wrongs

  3. •

    claims for an account of profits

  4. •

    relief

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