120PVL3704 Exam Notes
Exam Notes - PVL 3704
UNJUSTIFIED ENRICHMENT LIABILITY STUDY UNIT 1 - Overview
Explain why there is a need for unjustified enrichment liability in any developed system of law?
Liability for enrichment is necessary in any developed legal system. There are cases in which one person obtains assets belonging to another person in circumstances where there are no grounds for the transfer of such assets and where there is nothing to justify their retention by the receiver. Example 1: In accordance with the rules relating to accessio anything affixed to the land becomes part of the land and consequently the property of the owner of the land. This means that should the bona fide possessor of a farm build a house and outbuildings on that farm, all the buildings become the property of the owner of the farm and such owner is entitled to eject the bona fide possessor at any time leaving the occupier out of pocket and the owner with a property which is worth more than it had been before the improvements. There is no legal reason (no contract or delict) for the enrichment of the owner’s estate and the impoverishment of that of the occupier that would justify the retention of the enrichment by the owner. Unjustified enrichment liability is aimed at redressing this type of situation.
Example 2: all that is necessary for the transfer of ownership is delivery of a thing (res) with the intention on the part of the transferor to transfer ownership, and the intention on the part of the transferee to become the owner. This could result in, for example, a seller’s transferring ownership of the merx to the buyer in the genuine belief that the contract of sale was valid and only later learning that the contract was void and that he or she has no action for the purchase price against the buyer. Again the one party has benefited by the transfer of the property when there was no legal reason for such transfer.
It would be unfair in these examples to leave the bona fide possessor and
UNJUSTIFIED ENRICHMENT LIABILITY STUDY UNIT 1 - Overview
Explain why there is a need for unjustified enrichment liability in any developed system of law?
Liability for enrichment is necessary in any developed legal system. There are cases in which one person obtains assets belonging to another person in circumstances where there are no grounds for the transfer of such assets and where there is nothing to justify their retention by the receiver. Example 1: In accordance with the rules relating to accessio anything affixed to the land becomes part of the land and consequently the property of the owner of the land. This means that should the bona fide possessor of a farm build a house and outbuildings on that farm, all the buildings become the property of the owner of the farm and such owner is entitled to eject the bona fide possessor at any time leaving the occupier out of pocket and the owner with a property which is worth more than it had been before the improvements. There is no legal reason (no contract or delict) for the enrichment of the owner’s estate and the impoverishment of that of the occupier that would justify the retention of the enrichment by the owner. Unjustified enrichment liability is aimed at redressing this type of situation.
Example 2: all that is necessary for the transfer of ownership is delivery of a thing (res) with the intention on the part of the transferor to transfer ownership, and the intention on the part of the transferee to become the owner. This could result in, for example, a seller’s transferring ownership of the merx to the buyer in the genuine belief that the contract of sale was valid and only later learning that the contract was void and that he or she has no action for the purchase price against the buyer. Again the one party has benefited by the transfer of the property when there was no legal reason for such transfer.
It would be unfair in these examples to leave the bona fide possessor and