This book is the product of a conference on the theme of “Restitution: Unjust Enrichment in Australia” held at the Deakin University School of Law in mid-August 1995. It now appears to be almost universally accepted that conference proceedings will be published in book form. In my view this is extremely unfortunate. In the first place, it results in the publication of many essays which are no more than a summary of what has gone before or a rehash of an earlier essay. Secondly, it is now very difficult to go to a conference with a view to floating a few ideas. Almost as soon as the ideas have been floated, the unfortunate editor of the book gives you a production schedule which gives you a ridiculously short time-scale in which to set your ideas in stone.

The essays contained in this book are by well-known writers in the field. The authors are a healthy mix of practitioners and academics. The essays are well-written and scholarly (the essay on change of position by Professor Birks being a particularly good account of the current debate about the nature of the defence of change of position and its relationship with other defences). Four of the essays are the subject of a brief commentary. The topics covered in the essays include change of position, benefits for services rendered, restitutionary recovery of taxes after Commissioner of State Revenue v. Royal Insurance Australia Ltd (1994) 182 C.L.R. 51 and restitution and contract risk. In addition there are two more general essays dealing with the structure and challenges of unjust enrichment and an incisive account of the difficulties of searching for restitution in Australia.

Who is the book written for? It is hard to say. Some of the essays are substantially devoted to a survey of the existing literature and they could be read with profit by readers who are largely