Abstract

This article, after formulating a general critique of the prevailing approach in the national doctrine regarding unjustified enrichment, makes a schematic reconstruction of the Law of unjustified enrichment and presents a typology of cases that give or should give rise to restitution actions. Several archetypal cases of unjustified enrichment are identified and the differences of the corresponding actions are exposed with regard to their functions, requirements and restitution measures. After outlining the legal regime that the Chilean Civil Code associates with each archetypal case, it is proposed that the non-regulated cases be assimilated to those that are, in order to apply the most appropriate rules to them. Finally, it is proposed to abandon the unitary approach that has prevailed in the national doctrine and move towards a study of the particularities of the archetypal cases of unjustified enrichment, so that the unregulated cases are assimilated to those that are, applying to those the rules that are most appropriate.