Description
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Enrichment at the Claimants Expense: Attribution Rules in Unjust Enrichment by Dr Eli Ball
This book presents an account of ‘attribution’ in unjust enrichment; the connection between claimant and defendant reflected in the expression that a defendant be ‘enriched at the claimant’s expense’. The book presents a structured account of attribution consisting of two requirements: first the identification of an enrichment to the defendant and a loss to the claimant; and secondly the identification of a connection between that enrichment and that loss. These two requirements must be kept separate from other considerations often subsumed within attribution but which in truth have nothing to do with it and which instead qualify unjust enrichment liability for reasons that should be analysed in their own terms. The structure of attribution so presented fits a normative account of unjust enrichment based upon each party’s exchange capacities. A defendant is enriched when he receives something that he has not paid for under prevailing market conditions while a claimant suffers a loss when he loses the opportunity to charge for something under the same conditions. A counterfactual test – asking whether enrichment and loss arise ‘but for’ each other – provides the best generalisation for testing whether enrichment and loss are connected thereby satisfying the requirements of attribution in unjust enrichment.