Restitution

Restitution is the name given to a form of legal relief in which the plaintiff recovers something from the defendant that belongs, or should belong, to the plaintiff. Restitution, which is related to the word "restore", is in effect a technical term for a legal process by which one obtains something to which one has a right and is opposed to the remedy of damages where one recovers the amount that one has lost because of a defendant's wrongdoing. In the Common Law the action of ejectment by which the plaintiff establishies his right to a parcel of land and recovers it is a classic example of a restitutionary action, although the plaintiff may also be able to recover in that action the damages that the plaintiff suffered while the land was in the possession of the defendant.

Related Topics:
Legal - Plaintiff - Defendant - Right - Common Law - Ejectment - Land

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The term restitution is applied most often to a case where the plaintiff recovers the amount by which a defendant was enriched by some form of unjust enrichment; thus, for example, if a thief steals a horse from the plaintiff that is worth $20 and sells it for $30 to someone else, the plaintiff has a choice between a cause of action against the thief for $20 damages based on the wrong---or tort---committed by the defendant and one for $30 based on the plaintiff's right to recover the amount by which the defendant was unjustly enriched. And the plaintiff also has a restitutionary cause of action to recover the horse or its value from the buyer, who cannot acquire good title to the horse by purchasing it from a thief who had no title to it. If the thief is judgement-proof or cannot be found, as is often the case, then the restitutionary action against the buyer will be the plaintiff's best option but that cause of action is obviously not based on a theory of unjust enrichment.

Related Topics:
Unjust enrichment - Horse - Cause of action - Tort - Title

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