Quasi Contract
A quasi contract is a specific type of retroactive agreement between two sides, who previously haven’t had any obligations to each other. Basically, the retroactive character of this contract is explained by the fact that the need for such a legal arrangement occurred later than the problem itself.
The quasi contract is also known as an implied contract, or a constructive one. It’s aimed at protecting the interests of one side from the other, which acts to the detriment of the first. This type of contract is legally enforceable and enacted by court. So, it helps sides to resolve issues between them, even if they have no previous obligations to one another. However, if any kind of legal arrangement was concluded before, the quasi contract couldn’t be enacted.
In regard to this topic, it’s also important to mention another term – a quasi delict. The word “quasi” means something close to “seemingly”. Therefore, the quasi delict is like a crime, but it differs from a true one by its motivation. The quasi delict usually occurs by mistake or accident, so it wasn’t planned beforehand.
History of the Quasi Contract
The term originates from medieval times. Generally, its meaning has remained the same. A quasi contract, as then as today, is a form of obligation to pay the debt if you intentionally or occasionally got enriched to another person’s detriment, even taking into account the fact that previously sides haven’t entered into any contract or arrangement. Earlier, this debt obligation was called “indebitatus assumpsit”, which translates from Latin as “indebted”.
Requirements for the Quasi Contract
A quasi contract has special requirements that a judge has to consider. First of all, a complainant, or plaintiff, has to bring tangible evidence, demonstrating that a defendant gets an item by mistake and decides to keep it without required payment, which he or she is aware of. After that, the plaintiff has to prove that the defendant keeps the item intentionally and tries to enrich himself or herself at the plaintiff’s expense.
For instance, if someone ordered a pizza and paid for it in advance, but somehow it was delivered to a wrong address, this person might require the payment back, thereby becoming the plaintiff. The other person in this case, who got the pizza, would be the defendant.
Examples of Quasi Contracts
Let’s consider a simplified example as an illustration. Suppose that person A gets a product of person B by mistake. It might be a delivery to the wrong address, as we mentioned before. If the person decides to take the item, it will be appropriated without required payment. Therefore, person A acts in the detriment of person B. That’s where the quasi contract might be of use.
Person B as a complainant has to bring tangible evidence, demonstrating that person A owes the product without paying for it. The other side will be a defendant, who may or may not refuse the wrongly delivered item. The purpose of the quasi contract is to find a fair solution in this situation, according to which neither party will have an advantage over the other. In our example, the fair outcome might be if person A gets the item back to person B or takes it and pays a restitution equal to the item’s value.
Another example might be less obvious, but it also includes a form of unjust enrichment. Suppose that person C asks person D for help. Person D changed previous plans, and the sides arranged a certain day and payment for a service, but only verbally without any written contracts involved. At the appointed time, person C calls off the verbal agreement because the help isn’t needed anymore. However, the other side loses the time and money, therefore, becoming the damaged party, who might go to the court in order to form a complaint.
