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64 Geo. L. J. 1 (1975-1976)
Concept of Benefit in the Law of Quasi-Contract, The

handle is hein.journals/glj64 and id is 15 raw text is: Georgetown Volumne64 Numaber I October 1975 Law Joal THE CONCEPT OF BENEFIT IN THE LAW OF QUASI-CONTRACT TIMOTHY J. SULLIVAN* INTRODUCTION The appeal of a legal rule requiring the disgorgement of gains unjustly acquired or retained is so compelling that scholars from classical times to our own era may be cited in its support.1 The enthusiasm for separating a wrongdoer from his illicit gains, however, has obscured careful analysis of what constitutes an unjust benefit sufficient to entitle a plaintiff to recover in quasi-contract on restitutionary principles.2 Not only do we lack a comprehensive concept of benefit, but the need to develop uniform yardsticks for measuring the quantum of gains unjustly obtained also has been neglected. The central function of quasi-contract in providing a remedy in extremis may explain why no wholly consistent or comprehensive definition of benefit is possible or even desirable.3 Quasi-contract fills many gaps in areas to which other more conventional legal actions do not comfortably extend4 and often provides a remedy of last resort. To serve these objectives the application of quasi-contract necessarily must be improvisational. In failing to recognize that a doctrine serving such divergent and exigent purposes is not likely to emerge as a model of rationality, courts and scholars often have confused the concept of *Associate Professor of Law, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, College of Williani and Mary; A.B., William & Mary, 1966; J.D., Harvard University, 1969. The author wishes to acknowledge the generous assistance of his colleague, Professor Elmer J. Schaefer, and his research assistant, Mr. Marc Kane, J.D., 1975, William and Mary. 1. See J. DAWSON, UNJUST ENRICHMENT 3 (1951) (authorities cited as various as Porn- ponius, a second century Roman lawyer, and the Restatement ofRestitution). 2. See Comment, Quasi-Contracts-Concept of Benefit, 46 MICH. L. REV. 543, 544 (1948). Relatively few articles or student comments have treated the concept of benefit as a distinct topic of general application. See generally Jeanblanc, Restitution under the Statute of Frauds: What Constitutes a Legal Benefit, 26 IND. L.J. 1 (1950); Note, The Necessity of Conferring a Benefit For Recovery in Quasi-Contract, 19 HASTINGS L.J. 1259 (1968). 3. See J. DAWSON, supra note 1, at 7. 4. See Comment, supra note 2, at 551,553-54.

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