מורשת המשפט בישראל
Unjust Enrichment In Jewish Law
The term 'unjust enrichment' refers to situations in which one person derives material benefit from another without being legally entitled to it.
The Jewish Legal Heritage Society
The central question is whether and to what extent the person from whom the benefit is derived (the benefactor or donor) is entitled to something in return from the recipient of the benefit. Since no agreement exists on the matter, he has no right based on contract. Similarly, the donor has no right based on tort if he has not been injured by the recipient's enjoyment of the benefit. Is there no way for the donor to assert a right to compensation?
Benefit can be obtained by an act of the beneficiary; it can also be occasioned by an act of the benefactor. So, for instance, A may make improvements to B's property by mistake or even intentionally. If he does so intending to receive something in exchange, does his action, undertaken without B's consent, entitle him to be paid for the improvements?
On a number of points, the Israeli Unjust Enrichment Law, 1979, abandons the principles of English law in favor of the approach of Jewish law. It entitles a person who improves another's property to recover, it adopts the principle 'one benefits and the other sustains no loss' as a factor to be considered in exempting the recipient from the obligation to reimburse, and-to encourage acts of rescue-it entitles a person who rescues another's property to indemnification.
Part One of the present work discusses the principle 'one benefits and the other sustains no loss' and related principles, while the other parts study specific obligations, as when one transacts business with property of another, or when one benefits from a transaction made as an agent of another.
This book is a partial English translation of the Hebrew book "Osher v'Lo b'Mishpat" (Unjust Enrichment in Jewish Law), and contains 232 pp.