Quantum meruit is a Latin term that means "as much as deserved."
In the context of the law, quantum meruit is a legal principle that is called upon where contracts, or other financial transactions, are in dispute. People who believe that they have been wronged use quantum meruit to prove that they deserve a certain amount of money from another party.
Quantum meruit can be used if a contract has been breached, or if a quasi or informal contract has not been fulfilled. For example, if one person informally agrees to do labor for another person for one week at a price of $1,000, and the other person does not pay the money at the end of the week, the laboring party may sue the other party for payment and use quantum meruit as the legal basis for the argument. However, despite the fact that quantum meruit is a legal principle, informal contracts can be much more complicated to enforce than formal ones.