Uploaded April 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
BOOK REVIEW
GOFF AND JONES ON UNJUST ENRICHMENT
Tenth edition
Edited by Charles Mitchell KC, Paul Mitchell, and Stephen Watterson
ISBN 978 0 41410 191 3
SWEET AND MAXWELL/THOMSON REUTERS
The Common Law Library
sweetandmaxwell.co.uk
GROWING INTEREST IN THIS ELEMENT OF GREED WITH THE NEW TENTH EDITION OF “GOFF AND JONES”
An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator
What a book! “Goff and Jones on Unjust Enrichment”, now in its tenth edition, remains the leading work on the law of unjust enrichment. Successive editions have played a major role in establishing the central importance of the subject for private and commercial lawyers and developing its key concepts and principles. We now have this latest offering from editors Charles Mitchell KC, Paul Mitchell, and Stephen Watterson.
The text is comprehensive in coverage and written by highly respected scholars who explain all of the rules governing claims in unjust enrichment (sometimes known as restitution). They discuss how these rules have been applied through a detailed examination of major case-law authorities. This book is frequently cited in courts throughout the Commonwealth, and it continues “to signpost future developments in the field of restitution”.
For practitioners, general features included here are an analysis and explanation of the theory, principles, and practical application of unjust enrichment. The intention of the writers is to shows how the rules are applied by the courts through detailed discussion of caselaw.
The new edition is organised to meet the precepts established by the senior appeal courts. It examines in turn the following: when claims are barred because the Defendant’s enrichment is justified by a legal ground; when a Defendant is enriched; when the enrichment is acquired at a Claimant’s expense; when the enrichment is unjust, what defences may be available, and what remedies (nearly always very low) may be awarded by the courts.
What we get as practitioners and academics with this book is a combination of lucid explanations – the hallmark of the Sweet and Maxwell Common Law Library - together with the theoretical concepts and excellent practical advice about pleadings. The work remains heavily relied on by practitioners today and is frequently cited in court, written by a well-known and highly regarded team of subject experts which is the house-style of Sweet and Maxwell.
The new 10th edition is completely up-to-date and contains detailed discussion of important decisions since the last edition. Several chapters have been wholly or substantially rewritten to take account of significant new cases, and their impact on topics including the recovery of benefits from remote recipients. It looks at the recovery of benefits transferred on a condition that fails, the recovery of “ultra vires” (beyond the powers) payments by public bodies and discusses the limitation rules governing claims in unjust enrichment and interest awards on such claims.
The 10th edition deals with the following six key matters in relation to making a claim. For legal advisers it explains how a claim in unjust enrichment can be precluded where the Defendant’s enrichment is mandated by a statute, judgment, natural obligation, or contract.
The editors analyse the principles governing the identification and valuation of enrichment and explains how these apply to claims for different types of benefit. Also they consider the requirement that a Defendant’s gain has been acquired at the Claimant’s expense.
The new hardback edition of “Goff and Jones” was published by Sweet and Maxwell for the Common Law Library on 16th December 2022.
BOOK REVIEW
GOFF AND JONES ON UNJUST ENRICHMENT
Tenth edition
Edited by Charles Mitchell KC, Paul Mitchell, and Stephen Watterson
ISBN 978 0 41410 191 3
SWEET AND MAXWELL/THOMSON REUTERS
The Common Law Library
sweetandmaxwell.co.uk
GROWING INTEREST IN THIS ELEMENT OF GREED WITH THE NEW TENTH EDITION OF “GOFF AND JONES”
An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator
What a book! “Goff and Jones on Unjust Enrichment”, now in its tenth edition, remains the leading work on the law of unjust enrichment. Successive editions have played a major role in establishing the central importance of the subject for private and commercial lawyers and developing its key concepts and principles. We now have this latest offering from editors Charles Mitchell KC, Paul Mitchell, and Stephen Watterson.
The text is comprehensive in coverage and written by highly respected scholars who explain all of the rules governing claims in unjust enrichment (sometimes known as restitution). They discuss how these rules have been applied through a detailed examination of major case-law authorities. This book is frequently cited in courts throughout the Commonwealth, and it continues “to signpost future developments in the field of restitution”.
For practitioners, general features included here are an analysis and explanation of the theory, principles, and practical application of unjust enrichment. The intention of the writers is to shows how the rules are applied by the courts through detailed discussion of caselaw.
The new edition is organised to meet the precepts established by the senior appeal courts. It examines in turn the following: when claims are barred because the Defendant’s enrichment is justified by a legal ground; when a Defendant is enriched; when the enrichment is acquired at a Claimant’s expense; when the enrichment is unjust, what defences may be available, and what remedies (nearly always very low) may be awarded by the courts.
What we get as practitioners and academics with this book is a combination of lucid explanations – the hallmark of the Sweet and Maxwell Common Law Library - together with the theoretical concepts and excellent practical advice about pleadings. The work remains heavily relied on by practitioners today and is frequently cited in court, written by a well-known and highly regarded team of subject experts which is the house-style of Sweet and Maxwell.
The new 10th edition is completely up-to-date and contains detailed discussion of important decisions since the last edition. Several chapters have been wholly or substantially rewritten to take account of significant new cases, and their impact on topics including the recovery of benefits from remote recipients. It looks at the recovery of benefits transferred on a condition that fails, the recovery of “ultra vires” (beyond the powers) payments by public bodies and discusses the limitation rules governing claims in unjust enrichment and interest awards on such claims.
The 10th edition deals with the following six key matters in relation to making a claim. For legal advisers it explains how a claim in unjust enrichment can be precluded where the Defendant’s enrichment is mandated by a statute, judgment, natural obligation, or contract.
The editors analyse the principles governing the identification and valuation of enrichment and explains how these apply to claims for different types of benefit. Also they consider the requirement that a Defendant’s gain has been acquired at the Claimant’s expense.
The new hardback edition of “Goff and Jones” was published by Sweet and Maxwell for the Common Law Library on 16th December 2022.
