In Roman law and the civil legal systems descending from it, the is a legal action () whereby a plaintiff may recover what he has paid the defendant by mistake; such mistaken payment is known as . This action does not lie
if the sum was due , or by a natural obligation; if he who made the payment knew that nothing was due, for (who gives purposely what he does not owe, is presumed to make a gift).Walter A. Shumaker, George Foster Longsdorf. The cyclopedic law dictionary. Second edition, 1922.Bell, Diet; Calv. Lex.; 1 Kames, Eq. 307.John Trayner. Latin phrases and maxims: collected from the institutional and other writers on Scotch law. Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1861.
The action is extant in civil (Roman) or hybrid law regimes, e.g. Norway,See e.g. Viggo Hagstrøm (2011), Obligasjonsrett, page 700 et seq. South Africa and Scotland.See e.g. The common law of South Africa By Manfred Nathan, Johannes Voet
See also Condictio causa data causa non secuta
§ 812 I 1 1. Alt BGB (German Civil Code)
Further reading Outlines of Roman Law By Thomas Whitcombe Greene Roman-Frisian law of the 17th and 18th century By J. H. A. Lokin, Frits Brandsma, C. J. H. Jansen Imperatoris Iustiniani Institutionum Libri Quattuor By John Baron Moyle, Justinian "The evolution of the law of unjustified enrichment"
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