The Foundations of Restitution for Wrongs in Common Law and Iranian Law

Nowadays, in the framework of private law, most legal systems prefer to provide remedies and compensation to an injured person in violation of law or breach of contractual undertakings. The amount of the award limits to the loss of the injured. However, in some cases the injured person rather than seeks the incurred remedies or compensation, it seeks the restitution of the benefit that wrongdoer has gained by breach of victim’s rights. Although focusing on the gain-based liability instead of loss-based liability has been considered in Common Law for a long time but it is controversial as to the foundations of restitution for wrongs. With the descriptive-analytical method, the article explains the concept and definition of restitution for wrongs. While it illustrates some foundations of restitution for wrongs, it examines the foundation of such an institution in the Iranian Legal System. The article shows corrective justice cab be considered a foundation for restitution for wrongs in Common Law. Also, the rule “No man shall profit from his wrong”, the Lucrative Fault and social interests in tort law may provide the solution to accept the institution in Iranian Law.