ABSTRACT
The word ‘restitution’ is normally employed to refer to the restoration of a gain already received. In this chapter, as indeed in this book generally, it is used in a wider sense. The prospect of a gain which can be obtained by enforcement of a contractual obligation must be considered a benefit in the same way as a gain already realised. After all, a contractual obligation can be sold or charged in very much the same way as a tangible object. As George Palmer wrote in 1961, ‘there are analogous processes by which the prospect of unjust gain is eliminated from a contract not yet performed, either through cancellation of the contract (usually called rescission) or through reformation. The problems are much the same in each case, whether the gain has been realised or is only prospective – it seems best, therefore, to treat them together’.1 In this book, I will do the same.
