Payment by Mistake in English Law

Part I discusses the rule of recovery based on natural justice. The New York law restitution, as applied by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Morgan Guaranty, is in accord with the earlier English rule, which has long been discarded by English courts. Part II discusses the rules of recovery developed by English courts founded upon the theory of imputed promise. It discusses three situations under which the law will not impute such promise.

It then goes on to discuss the situations where the law imputes a promise to pay, what the defenses of the payee are. Part II discusses the English case, W.J. Simms, in which the court announced some principles of law on the recovery of payment made by mistake. This article concludes that some of the general principles of law that the English court deduced are not supported by precedents.