- Instructor: Stephen Gallagher
Date: 17 November 2023 (Friday) Time: 2:30pm–5:45pm Language: English Level: Elementary
Speaker: Stephen Gallagher, Professor of Practice in Law, Associate Dean (Academic & Student Affairs), the Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Lawyer CPD / ACCA CPD / SFC CPT / Insurers’ CPD Pts: 3 points Fee: HK$1,790
Highlights:
This three-hour seminar will consider what has been hailed as the newest form of standalone action at common law- unjust enrichment. The seminar will consider the history of the development of unjust enrichment, the only form of action at common law created by academics rather than judges, and its development. The seminar will consider unjust enrichment’s part in the search for a unified common law of restitution. The seminar will then consider the development of unjust enrichment and its defence, the change of position, in Hong Kong and England. The seminar will consider the links between unjust enrichment and equity and the possible development of the action to deal with more than just money claims. In conclusion we will consider whether unjust enrichment does exist or whether it is just another name for money had and received, and whether we can humanely dispose of the last vestige of the “cult of restitution.”
Course Outline:
Some of the topics considered in this seminar include:
- What is unjust enrichment?
- Where did it come from?
- A brief history of unjust enrichment;
- The common money counts;
- Mansfield’s fallacy and the “Glorious uncertainty of the law”
- Lord Goff’s academic pursuit of a law of restitution;
- Gambling solicitors and a firm’s lost funds;
- Unjust enrichment and the change of position defence;
- The modern action for unjust enrichment in Hong Kong;
- The limits of actions for unjust enrichment;
- Arguments for tracing more than money;
- Could we live without unjust enrichment?
