The condictio indebiti is an action in civil (Roman) law whereby a plaintiff may recover what he has paid the defendant by mistake; such mistaken payment is known as solutio indebiti. This action does not lie

  1. if the sum was due ex aequitate, or by a natural obligation;
  2. if he who made the payment knew that nothing was due, for qui consulto dat quod non debet, praesumitur donare (who gives purposely what he does not owe, is presumed to make a gift).[1][2][3]

The action is extant in civil (Roman) or hybrid law regimes, e.g. Norway,[4] South Africa and Scotland .[5]

See also

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§ 812 I 1 1. Alt BGB (German Civil Code)

Further reading

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References

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  1. ^ Walter A. Shumaker, George Foster Longsdorf. The cyclopedic law dictionary. Second edition, 1922.
  2. ^ Bell, Diet; Calv. Lex.; 1 Kames, Eq. 307.
  3. ^ John Trayner. Latin phrases and maxims: collected from the institutional and other writers on Scotch law. Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1861.
  4. ^ See e.g. Viggo Hagstrøm (2011), Obligasjonsrett, page 700 et seq.
  5. ^ See e.g. The common law of South Africa By Manfred Nathan, Johannes Voet