Details
Peter Birks's tragically early death, and his immense influence around the world, led immediately to the call for a volume of essays in his honour by scholars who had known him as a colleague, teacher and friend. One such volume, published in 2006, contained essays largely from scholars working in England (Mapping the Law: Essays in Memory of Peter Birks, edited by Andrew Burrows and Lord Rodger).
This volume contains the essays of those outside England who chose to honour Peter, and appears later than the English volume, reflecting the far flung habitations of its authors. The essays contained in this volume are focussed around the law of unjust enrichment, but are not narrowly preoccupied - instead they move freely from unjust enrichment to some of the most profound questions in private law concerning taxonomy, the relationship between contract, property and unjust enrichment, and the place of remedies within private law.
This volume, featuring the work of some of the world's great private lawyers, provides a fitting tribute to a great scholar, and a series of thought-provoking essays inspired by his example
Charles EF Rickett, MA, LLB, BD is the Sir Gerard Brennan Professor of Law and Head of the TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland.
Ross B Grantham, LLD, BCL, LLM, LLB is Professor of Commercial Law, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland.
Contributors:
Kit Barker
Michael Bryan
Peter Butler
Hanoch Dagan
Simone Degeling
Daniel Friedmann
Mark Gergen
Ross Grantham
Steve Hedley
John McCamus
Mitchell McInnes
Eoin O'Dell
Charles Rickett
Struan Scott
Emily Sherwin
Stephen Smith
Richard Sutton
Michael Tilbury
Stephen Waddams
Peter Watts
Ernest Weinrib
Eric Descheemaeker
…[this] collection further exemplifies the widespread and very significant influence of Birks' scholarship throughout the common law world...the volume makes a significant contribution to the taxonomic work carried out by Birks. This is both appropriate and most welcome, particularly in the light of its relative absence from Mapping the Law...the volume achieves its end of providing a distinct yet complementary contribution to that volume.The editors and essayists thus deserve sincere thanks for their contribution to what is now a more fully rounded body of work offered in tribute to the great scholar.
Elise Bant
Canadian Business Law Journal
Volume 48, 2009
An edited collection can be assessed on the strength of the individual contributions and on its coherence as a whole. In both respects, Structure and Justification in Private Law excels. The contributions offer a critical perspective on unjust enrichment and on Birks's ideas...Collectively, they offer useful additions to existing debates and will no doubt initiate new ones...this collection will become essential reading to scholars and students researching in the field of unjust enrichment.
Nicholas Hopkins
Journal of Business Law
Issue 6, 2008
The essays frequently challenge Peter's thinking—an approach he would have welcomed for he never retreated from an opportunity to engage in robust scholarly debate...Inevitably, so short a review cannot do full justice to the strength and diversity of views which this collection brings together. The editors have managed to structure the array of differing views into a coherent whole. It certainly offers the reader an exhaustive and comprehensive insight into the controversies which Birks's own thinking generated and the essays not only engage with the current debates on unjust enrichment, they will no doubt generate new ones. As such the collection will long be a point of reference for scholars. Finally, as is typical of Hart Publishing, ease of reference is facilitated by detailed indexing and the overall quality of the publication is excellent. This impressive work is a welcome and necessary addition to the literature on private law and unjust enrichment.
John Lowry
King's Law Journal
20:1
...all of the essays in this book are of high quality and generate valuable theoretical insights. This is an outstanding collection of essays which should be read by everybody who is interested in the law of unjust enrichment.
Qi Zhou
Legal Studies
Vol 29, No. 2
