ABSTRACT
These illegal profit cases can often be classed as property problems. Thus, in those cases where an owner at common law or in equity has been held entitled to recover money or property in the hands of another on the basis of conversion170 or resulting or constructive trust,171 one can talk of rules of the law of property. Indeed, whenever the basis of the restitution is a right in rem rather than one in personam, although the line can be blurred in some cases, it is possible to say that one has, strictly speaking, left the law of obligations. This is problematic when viewed from the civilian perspective in as much as a sharp distinction is made in the codes between the law of property and the law of obligations. Yet, in English law, many property rights are protected via the law of obligations. Obvious examples are trespass and conversion. If D invades the possessory right of P the latter will prima facie be entitled to damages and (or) an injunction and, in the case of chattels, the damages may well be measured by the value of thing in question, if not, as we have seen, the rental value. If the res is land the claimant wrongfully ejected can claim damages for trespass and these damages can be restitutionary if the land is a commercial property such as a hotel.172
