Prof. Mitchell McInnes contributes work to collection on former Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin

Chapter traces her role in the development of modern Canadian law of unjust enrichment

Sarah Kent - 26 January 2023

Professor Mitchell McInnes of the University of Alberta Faculty of Law has published new work on alumna and former Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin’s impact on unjust enrichment.

The paper, titled “Controversy Resolved: Chief Justice McLachlin, Personal Autonomy and Unjust Enrichment,” appears in the edited collection, Controversies in Common Law: Tracing Contributions of Chief Justice McLachlin.

The collection honours the legacies of the former chief justice, an alumna of the Class of 1968 who was the first woman to be chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

McInnes’ contribution traces her role in the emergence and development of the modern Canadian law of unjust enrichment. He argues that although the chief justice seldom receives credit, she “played a critical role” in “formulating an autonomy-focused conception of enrichment.”