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United Kingdom
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Key definition
Restitution definition

What does Restitution mean? Restitution describes the legal process of reversing a benefit obtained at another’s expense, usually under the law of unjust enrichment. The court’s aim is to strip the defendant’s gain, not to compensate the claimant’s loss, although both may coincide. Developed mainly in case law rather than statute, restitutionary liability typically requires: (1) enrichment; (2) at the claimant’s expense; (3) an unjust factor (such as mistake, duress or failure of consideration/basis); and (4) no applicable defence (most notably change of position). Common remedies include a personal money judgment (money had and received), quantum meruit/quantum valebat for the value of services or goods, rescission...

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Restitution and Deprivation Orders under the Sentencing Act 2020: Powers, Procedure, Appeals and Effects (England and Wales)

Practice notes
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This Practice Note addresses Restitution and deprivation orders following conviction under the Sentencing Act 2020 (SA 2020). It sets out the court’s authority in criminal proceedings to order the return of stolen property to victims, and the means of appealing a restitution order. It also outlines the courts’ power to order the forfeiture of property connected with the commission of an offence by making a deprivation order, together with the procedure for obtaining such an order and its effect.

Restitution orders

A restitution order allows the court to restore to a victim the Goods, or the value of goods, that were stolen or otherwise unlawfully taken, using Money found in the offender’s possession on arrest. On conviction, the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court before which the defendant is convicted may order restitution of goods. The court may make such an order of its own motion, or on application by the prosecutor...

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Stan Reiz
Stan Reiz , KC chambers

2BR

Stan Reiz KC specialises in all aspects of financial crime litigation. He recently represented a defendant in a complex international money laundering prosecution relating to what was alleged to have been US$170m traded in cryptocurrency between countries including the UK, Ukraine, Iran and the UAE. He also represented a company director accused of complicity in a £93m fraud on Royal Mail committed over a nine-year period using a network of companies offering postal services. Mr Reiz successfully represented a HNW property developer charged with Cheating the Public Revenue out of millions of pounds in tax; achieved the discharge of an account freezing order for another HNW director of property development companies; defended a practising doctor prosecuted by the FCA for Financial Services Act offences arising from the selling of shares and secured a suspended sentence for a money transmitter who breached the Money...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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