The Status Theory: a Corrective Justice Account of the English Law of Unjust Enrichment

This thesis presents a corrective justice theory, which will be referred to as the "status theory," of the normative foundations underlying the English law of unjust enrichment. According to the status theory, the right to restitution responding to an unjust enrichment is a Kantian status right, which is granted to the plaintiff following the violation, by the defendant, of a particular proprietary right belonging to the plaintiff. This proprietary right is a right to set the agenda over value owned by the plaintiff and comprising the enrichment. The Kantian status right resulting from the violation of the plaintiff's right to set the agenda over his property may then be used to force the defendant to disgorge unjust gains, comprised of either value or in rem rights.LL.M