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74 Tex. L. Rev. 1361 (1995-1996)
Subrogation, Restitution, and Indemnity

handle is hein.journals/tlr74 and id is 1381 raw text is: Review Essay Subrogation, Restitution, and Indemnity THE LAW OF SUBROGATION. By Charles Mitchell.t Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. Pp. xxviii, 192. $90.00.* Reviewed by Michael Sean Quinn* Subrogation is a sleepy, although significant, subject. There now is (and has been for many years) a steady flow of dull, relatively fact-specific judicial opinions on the subject. Often they repeat general principles, and only a few blaze new trails. There are some differences in the law of sub- rogation from state to state, but the fundamentals are clear enough and relatively stable. Despite its unremarkable position in the judicial and academic literature, however, subrogation has recently come alive, or, at least, it has come into public view-big time. Several states have sued tobacco companies for medical payments that state insurance funds have made for the care of persons made ill by smoking.' The basic theory of recovery in these high-profile, multi-million dollar cases is subrogation. Hence, a contemporary systematic treatise on the subject would be timely. Charles Mitchell's book, The Law of Subrogation, looks promising. It is a tersely written and .ostensibly tightly reasoned essay in applied analytic jurisprudence. It attempts to rationalize the law of subrogation by classifying it unequivocally as a species of the genus restitution. Mitchell suggests that subrogation not only has its historical roots in the tradition of restitution, but is through-and-through, without exception, a type of restitu- t Lecturer in Law, University College, University of London. Ph.D. 1993, University of London. * Hereinafter cited by page number only. * Visiting Professor of Law, University of Texas at Austin, 1995-1997. B.A. 1965, University of Texas; M.A. 1968, University of Pittsburgh; Ph.D. 1972, University of Pittsburgh; LD. 1980, University of Missouri at Kansas City. Professor Quinn worked on industrial property insurance subrogation cases for several years. 1. E.g., Tobacco Companies Seek SummaryJudgmentin Texas Preemptive Suit, MEALEY's Lri. REP.: TOBACCO, Mar. 21, 1996, at 21; Tobacco Industry Documents from 1994 Recently Filed with Mississippi Court, MEALEY'S LITIG. REP.: TOBACCO, Mar. 7, 1996, at 9; Health Insurer Has No Standing in Minnesota Suit, Tobacco Industry Argues to High Court, MEALEY's LmG. REP.: INS., Nov. 20, 1995, at 14. 1361