E. Marshall Wick
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Quasi Contract
A quasi contract is an obligation that is imposed by the courts to avoid injustice or unjust enrichment.Acceptable alternative ways of describing a quasi contract are:
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An implied-in-law contract imposed by the courts to prevent injustice.
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A special form of contract that lacks mutual assent of the parties but
which is imposed on the parties by the courts to avoid injustice.
Notes on Quasi Contract:
An example of a quasi contract is:- Joe, a painter, mistakenly paints Helen's house, with her knowledge and Helen refuses to pay since she had never made a contract with Joe. The court will create a contract between them in this circumstance and Helen will have to pay.
Note, however, that if Helen had no knowledge of Joe doing the job, there would be no contract of any kind.
A quasi contract is not really a contract at all in the normal meaning of a contract. It is really an obligation imposed on a party to make things fair.
Related Concept:
A concept related to this term is:-
Promissory estoppel.
Promissory estoppel is similar except that in promissory estoppel there actually was a promise made but this promise would otherwise be unenforceable (like a promise of a gift in which there is no reliance.) In quasi contracts NO promise at all was made.