From: Matthew
Hoyle <MHoyle@oeclaw.co.uk>
Sent: Thursday
24 September 2026 19:10
To: 'Paul
Daly'; 'Samuel Beswick'; Obligations
Subject: RE:
Unjust enrichment at the SCC (again)
Thanks Paul.
With English eyes and a vague understanding of how other common law
systems deal with these situations, one can somewhat see it might be similar to
the many farm "proprietary estoppel" (sic) cases we have here: party A agrees
to work for party B for free or reduced compensation for a long period in
expectation of receiving a substantial reward later in life.
In cases not involving contract, then the standard position would be
that if the agreed counter-performance (i.e. the expected eventual reward)
fails, then A ought to get back the market value of the work put in at that
stage. But if the parties have a contract, then the contract will be important
in deciding what the condition of the performance was, and the consequences of
it failing. As I argued in a recent English CA case, that isn't "exclusion", that
is a prior stage of the analysis of the cause of action.
I don't think the fact that the parties have a contract automatically
"excludes" a claim in restitution, any more than a contract excludes it the
standard commercial case involving a failure of counterperformance. Exclusion
of an existing right would normally have to be spelled out specifically,
whether expressly or by necessary implication.
Of course, none of the above is how the English courts actually deal
with these farm cases, and obviously English law on failure of condition is no
sensible read across to Quebec civil law!
Best,
Matthew
Matthew Hoyle
Barrister
One Essex Court
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From:
Paul Daly <paul.daly@uottawa.ca>
Sent: 24 September 2026 18:50
To: Matthew Hoyle <MHoyle@oeclaw.co.uk>;
'Samuel Beswick' <sbeswick@sjd.law.harvard.edu>;
Obligations <obligations@uwo.ca>
Subject: Re: Unjust enrichment at the SCC (again)
I believe -- my grasp of French is better than my grasp of unjust
enrichment -- the theory of the case was that the lower earning spouse and the
higher earning spouse undertook a common project to support the latter's
career, the payoff for which would be a golden retirement for the former --
this never came because the relationship ended, and the lower earning spouse
sought a 50% share of the value of the common project. See par 24 of the QCCA
decision. No comment from me on how tenable this theory is -- don't shoot the
translator!
An interesting nugget is that the first-instance judge (Rigaud J)
who found in favour of the appellant was a law professor at the University of
Montreal before her appointment to the bench
Paul
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