Wang Zejian's Collected Works of Law · Volume 13, Principles of Tort Law. Unjust Enrichment

Author: Wang Zejian
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-09-01
Features: Preface The Chinese University of Political Science and Law compiled and edited this work in an anthology format for easy use, reference, and preservation. Sincere gratitude is expressed to all colleagues at the publisher for their assistance and hard work. The first eight volumes of this anthology, "Civil Law Doctrine and Case Studies," were completed between 1975 and 1992, reflecting the author's teaching and research experiences at the Department of Law, National Taiwan University. This period was a critical phase in the development of Taiwan's Civil Code. The author applied legal methods to analyze and examine the reasoning of important judgments, uncovering and interpreting the legal principles embedded in specific cases, and constructing a theoretical framework. To some extent, these eight volumes reflect the challenges faced by the Civil Code in adapting to socio-economic changes, the process of interpreting and applying laws, filling loopholes, and creating new institutions, documenting the history of civil law theory. "Civil Law Thinking and Case Studies" aims to establish a theoretical framework for the basis of civil law claims, holding practical significance for legal methodology. The approach to the basis of claims has been widely adopted by the legal community and in practice, helping to study civil law in a more systematic and step-by-step manner, enhancing the rigor, transparency, and objectivity of argumentation and legal interpretation. "Civil Law Outline," published in 2002, primarily serves as a basic textbook for civil law learners, as well as an introductory guide and comprehensive review. The book concisely explains the values and principles of civil law, introduces important civil law systems, and provides statistical data to help readers understand the relationship between civil law and daily life, cultivating legal thinking and argumentation skills. "General Principles of Civil Law," "General Principles of Debt Law," and "Civil Law Property" discuss the content of civil law, explain controversies in interpretation and application, and explore its development trends. The general principles of debt law are of specialized nature, particularly "Unjust Enrichment," which reexamines and comprehensively interprets hundreds of cases using typological theory, serving both as a textbook and a casebook. This is a new attempt in writing methodology, aiming to combine theory and practice, highlight issues and disputes through case studies, and use comparative law to explore various normative models as references for interpretation and application. Through years of civil law research, I have come to realize more deeply that civil law is people-centered, rooted in the theory of freedom and equality, and safeguards human value and dignity. Striving for civil law is a fight for human freedom, equality, value, and dignity. Thirty years of writing have been a long and arduous journey. I am deeply grateful to my teachers, colleagues, classmates, and readers for their encouragement and support. I especially want to thank my family for their love and tolerance, and particularly the blessings and grace of God, which have enabled me to continue learning and working in peace and joy. June 2, 2003, 65th Birthday Preface to the Book My work on "Unjust Enrichment" was first published in 1990. In 2000, I wrote a long preface to comprehensively discuss the changes in case law and scholarship since then. Now, I have fully revised it, incorporating recent practical cases, adding new literature, reexamining contentious issues, strengthening theoretical arguments, and including additional appendices, increasing the volume by over 200 pages. Despite efforts to be thorough, errors are inevitable. I kindly ask readers to point out any shortcomings. Regarding unjust enrichment, the current Civil Code provides five abstract and general provisions (Articles 79 to 83). Since the implementation of the Civil Code, the Supreme Court has issued 72 judgments, with related rulings numbering in the thousands (please refer to the Judicial Data Retrieval section on the Supreme Court website), accumulating a wealth of valuable experience and wisdom, making unjust enrichment law a living law. This book aims to organize and analyze case law and scholarship to construct a theoretical framework for unjust enrichment law. Originally, I planned to write another book on unjust enrichment case law, selecting relevant judgments from the Federal Court of Germany for comparative research, hoping to gain a deeper insight into the practical operation of unjust enrichment law and understand different judicial styles and argumentation methods. The difficulty of this task was greater than anticipated, so I have temporarily set it aside and included the compiled case system of unjust enrichment law as Appendix (1) to provide a comparative reference with the book's content, making it somewhat serve both teaching and casebook purposes. This is a new attempt in methodology, aiming to combine theory and practice, contributing to the research and development of unjust enrichment law.