QUANTUM
MERUIT
"For
as much as he has earned". A right to recover on a quantum
meruit may be available to the innocent party following breach of a
service contract as an alternative to seeking damages. The remedy is
based on an implied term to pay a reasonable sum for work done and
therefore, applies for example, to a partly finished building.
Contracts
falling within the purview of laws requiring contracts to be in
writing are not rendered void by such laws on grounds of illegality
or otherwise. They are contracts supportable by actions at law or in
equity. For example, a partly completed building contract where the
builder has wrongly been prevented by the other party from completing
can claim and recover fair value for what he has done by an action
outside the contract Trimtor Building v Hilton (1983).