quantum meruit

A claim on quantum meruit lets a person recover reasonable remuneration for work done or goods supplied when there is no enforceable agreement on price, or when the contract has been discharged or found void after part performance. It rests on preventing unjust enrichment, not on the contract itself.

The classic example is Planche v. Colburn (1831), where an author recovered for work done when the publisher abandoned the series. In India the claim is supported by sections 65 (benefit under a void agreement must be restored) and 70 (obligation to pay for a non-gratuitous act enjoyed) of the Contract Act. The party in breach generally cannot claim on quantum meruit for an incomplete entire contract.

Example

After the employer wrongfully stopped the building work halfway, the contractor sued on quantum meruit for the value of the work done.

In Indian law

• ss.65 and 70, Indian Contract Act, 1872
• Planche v. Colburn (Court of Common Pleas, England, 1831)

See also

quasi-contract · restitution · breach of contract · damages

Read more in the study notes

• Breach of contract: anticipatory and actual (Contract I)