UNJUST ENRICHMENT. — U. e., or enrichment without cause, occurs whenever someone, without a cause recognized by law, derives some pecuniary benefit to another’s detriment, without, however, having committed a legally wrongful act.
In Roman law, in various cases of u. e., the injured party was granted the right to obtain compensation for the damage within the limits of the other’s enrichment; these cases were generalized in the common law.
The CIC likewise provides for certain cases in which the action for u. e. (actio de in rem verso) is admitted in favor of the injured party (cann. 536, § 4; 1527, § 2, etc.); and it is probable that the rules establishing this should be regarded as particular applications of a general principle of the canonical legal order.
Many civil legislations now in force regulate only certain cases of u. e., and thus give rise to serious doubts as to the existence within them of a general principle on the matter. The German Civil Code, the Swiss Code of Obligations, and other recent codes, on the other hand, regulate the action for u. e. considered as a whole. The current Italian Civil Code has likewise formulated in general terms the principle that “he who, without just cause, has enriched himself to the detriment of another person is bound, within the limits of the enrichment, to compensate the latter for the corresponding diminution of his estate”; adding, however, that “the action for enrichment may not be brought when the injured party can exercise another action to obtain compensation for the harm suffered” (arts. 2041–42).