Unjust Enrichment and European Law: Present State and Future Directions

The law of unjust enrichment seems to have been overlooked by the harmonization process of European Union law. Lack of legislative activity has been partly filled by the work of European judges and scholars, thanks to which the area of restitution has been largely mapped. This endeavour has opened a path to the emergence of a European law of unjust enrichment. Unfortunately, since it seems that the impetus for a common European legal system has somewhat cooled down, it seems unlikely that such a path will soon culminate in adopting a (codified) European law of unjust enrichment. Even so, the essay contends that retracing and reexamining that path is in itself useful. Therefore, the essay critically evaluates the present state of the EU law of unjust enrichment, by looking at EU legislation, CJEU case law and the DCFR, and assesses the possibility of its future developments.