Condictio indebiti

The condictio indebiti is an action in civil (Roman) law whereby a plaintiff may recover what he has paid the defendant by mistake; such mistaken payment is known as solutio indebiti. This action does not lie, 1. if the sum was due ex aequitate, or by a natural obligation; 2. if he who made the payment knew that nothing was due, for qui consulto dat quod non debet, praesumitur donare (who gives purposely what he does not owe, is presumed to make a gift).[1][2][3]

The action is extant in civil (Roman) or hybrid law regimes, e.g. Norway,[4] South Africa and Scotland .[5]

See also

• Condictio causa data causa non secuta

§ 812 I 1 1. Alt BGB (German Civil Code)

Further reading

• Outlines of Roman Law By Thomas Whitcombe Greene
• Roman-Frisian law of the 17th and 18th century By J. H. A. Lokin, Frits Brandsma, C. J. H. Jansen
• Imperatoris Iustiniani Institutionum Libri Quattuor By John Baron Moyle, Justinian
• "The evolution of the law of unjustified enrichment"

References

1. Walter A. Shumaker, George Foster Longsdorf. The cyclopedic law dictionary. Second edition, 1922.
2. Bell, Diet; Calv. Lex.; 1 Kames, Eq. 307.
3. John Trayner. Latin phrases and maxims: collected from the institutional and other writers on Scotch law. Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1861.
4. See e.g. Viggo Hagstrøm (2011), Obligasjonsrett, page 700 et seq.
5. See e.g. The common law of South Africa By Manfred Nathan, Johannes Voet