quasi-contract

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Related to quasi-contract: implied in law

quasi-contract

‘like’ contract. A very contentious term at present, it describes cases where parties have an obligation that resembles contract but where there is actually no contract at all. In England it was (and still is) predominantly used for cases involving money had and received, and in Scotland was (and still is) used to describe cases under the various actions for recovery of mistaken payments and for work done without contract. Modern theorists have demonstrated that quasi-contractual actions have nothing to do with contract at all but rather describe, mostly, claims in restitution for unjust enrichment. Accordingly, the term is becoming used by fewer and fewer commentators.

References in periodicals archive ?

(63.) Quasi-contract claims against idea appropriators have been

The new law of ideas

In practice, courts often misinterpret quasi-contract and contract implied in fact by confusing the two (132) or conflating them into a monolithic quantum meruit hybrid.

Lexis nexus complexus: comparative contract law and international accounting collide in the IASB-FASB revenue recognition exposure draft

So if the law of quasi-contracts deals with contract-like situations that aren't strictly contractual, and the law of quasi-torts with tort-like scenarios that aren't purely delictual, does a more prominent category of situations exist where the law creates property-like entitlements, but recognizes them to be something other than truly proprietary in character?

Quasi-property: like, but not quite property

Here is the whole law of quantum meruit--a phrase that survives from the days of quasi-contract and can be translated into plain English as "reasonable value" ([section] 31 cmt.

Restatement (Third) of Restitution and Unjust Enrichment

(34) p H Winfield, 'The American Restatement of the Law of Restitution' (1938) 54 Law Quarterly Review 529 (where it is stated at 529 that 'English lawyers cannot have their attention directed too often or too emphatically to this branch of the law'); P H Winfield, 'Equity and Quasi-Contract' (1948) 64 Law Quarterly Review 46; Sir P H Winfield, The Law of Quasi-Contracts (Sweet & Maxwell, 1952).

Restatement (Third) of Restitution and Unjust Enrichment, vols.1-2

The quasi-contract principle is likewise motivated by equity concerns.

Unions and the duty of good faith in employment contracts

So when classical theorists tried to put agency on a contract footing, (23) claimed that bailments were not actually contracts but rather some other form of undertaking, (24) took pains to distinguish contracts from quasi-contracts, (25) or reworked the law governing interpretation to focus on intent rather than on which category of relations the transactions fit, (26) they were reiterating the same basic maneuver of setting up contract as a realm wholly governed by the parties themselves, rather than by legally determined obligation.

Fault at the contract-tort interface

Part II treats specific contracts and covers agency; bailment; aleatory contracts; sale of goods; hire of work & skills, building contracts; lease, commercial and agricultural leases; compromise settlement; suretyship; pledge; loans; contracts with the government and other public administrations; contract of partnership; and quasi-contracts. ([umlaut] Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR)

Contract Law in Sweden

as well as academics and researchers, the author defines and classifies contracts and the differences between contracts and other legal instruments such as torts and quasi-contracts. Topics include, but are not limited to: formal and evidentiary requirements, defects of consent, contract contents, termination, and remedies such as damages.

Contract law in the United States, 2d ed

This brings up the question of how new labour movements attempt to deal with work-related health problems in an era of quasi-contracts and benefit slashing.

Biju Mathew, Taxi! Cabs and Capitalism in New York City

The rest of the book covers offers and deals, consideration, reasons for not enforcing agreements, terms of the deal, and alternatives to contracts, such as quasi-contracts and restitution.

Cases and Materials on Contracts: Making and Doing Deals, 4th Edition

They discuss the political and legal system of the Netherlands, the distinctions between public and private law and between civil and commercial law, contract formation, conditions of substantive validity, the contents of a contract, third persons, the end of a contract, and special topics like agency, bailment, gaming and wagering, sale of goods, building contracts, lease, contracts with government and other public administrations, and quasi-contracts. The volume is derived from the multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws.