This note emphasizes the
importance of remedies in the study of contract law. It describes three different interests that
can be protected or restored by the recovery of damages:
1.
Restitution
interest – the interest in getting the money back that you paid while trying to
do your part of a contract
2.
Reliance
interest – the interest in getting back the value you lost because you were
counting on the contract to be performed, e.g. opportunity cost of not looking
around for a better deal
3.
Expectation
interest – the interest in getting the value you would have gotten if the
contract had been performed, or in other words, getting damages such that you’d
be in the same position that you’d be in if the promise hadn’t been broken.
It is claimed that
restitution interest is the easiest to legally justify and expectation interest
is the most difficult to justify.