action for money had and received:
(18c)

1. At common law, an action by which the plaintiff could recover money paid to the defendant, the money usually being recoverable because

(1) the money had been paid by mistake or under compulsion, or
(2) the consideration was insufficient. [1]

     Excerpt from Robert Goff & Gareth Jones’ The Law of Restitution (3d 6 . 6):

     “The action for money had and received lay to recover money which the plaintiff had paid to the defendant, on the ground that it had been paid under a mistake or compulsion, or for a consideration which had wholly failed. By this action the plaintiff could also recover money which the defendant had received from a third party, as when he was accountable or had attorned to the plaintiff in reSpect of the money, or the money formed part of the fruits of an office of the plaintiff which the defendant had usurped.” [2]

action for money paid:
(18c)

1. At common law, an action by which the plaintiff could recover money paid to a third party — not to the defendant — in circumstances in which the defendant had benefitted. [1]

          Excerpt from Robert Goff & Gareth Jones’ The Law of Restitution (3d 6 . 6):

     “The action for money paid was the appropriate action when the plaintiff’s claim was in respect of money paid, not to the defendant, but to a third party, from which the defendant had derived a benefit.  Historically, the plaintiff had to show that the payment was made at the defendant’s request; but we shall see that the law was prepared to ‘imply’ such a request on certain occasions, in particular where the payment was made under compulsion of law or, in limited circumstances, in the course of intervention in an emergency on the defendant’s behalf, which in this book we shall call necessitous intervention.” [2]

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