oxford law - the faculty and its members : thomas krebs

Thomas Krebs

Subject groups : Commercial Law : Contract : International Trade : Tort

T Krebs, 'The Fallacy of Restitution for Wrongs' in Andrew Burrows and Lord Rodger of Earlsferry (eds), Mapping the Law, Essays in Memory of Peter Birks (OUP 2006)

T Krebs, 'Eingriffskondiktion und Restitution for Wrongs im englischen Recht' in Reinhard Zimmermann (ed), Grundstrukturen eines Europäischen Bereicherungsrechts (Mohr Siebeck e.K. 2005)

English Abstract: English law distinguishes sharply between restitutionary claims following an unjust enrichment and claims seeking restitution of benefits obtained by committing a wrong against the claimant. The latter are now generally regarded as part of the law of wrongs. German law draws a similar line between enrichments obtained by a conscious transfer of assets from one person to another (Leistungskondiktion) and enrichments obtained ‘in another way’, often by infringing the claimant’s rights, be they proprietary or otherwise (Eingriffskondiktion). However, in contrast to English law, both claims form part of the wider law of unjustified enrichment. German writers have developed a set of criteria used to determine whether the infringement of a given right triggers a restitutionary claim. These are based on the content and purpose of the infringed right. The claim of the article is that English law would do well to follow the German lead by (a) integrating restitution for wrongs into the law of unjust enrichment and (b) developing a similar set of criteria.

ISBN: 3161485475

T Krebs, 'Unrequested Benefits in German Law' in Neyers, McInnes, Pitel (eds), Understanding Unjust Enrichment (Hart Publishing 2004)