The future of unjustified enrichment in Scotland

The invited paper explains how the Scots law of unjustified enrichment has been re-cast since the 1990s, following a model based on that developed in German law since its codification in 1900. The paper notes that the German model has recently been subjected to searching criticism from within (Professor Nils Jansen) and seeks to respond to that criticism from a Scottish point of view. The paper then turns to the problem of failed contracts and unjustified enrichment, where there has again been a recent original German criticism (by Professor Sonja Meier). It is recognised that Scots law faces the issues identified by Professor Meier, and that the approach she advocates is one which might well be considered also in the Scottish setting.