Nature of Equity Equity is a body of principles and procedures which developed side by side with the common law and statute law. Early common law was rigid and could produce arbitrary and unjust results in many cases. Equity originated with the Courts of Chancery, which sought to mitigate the harshness of the early common law. As a court of […]
Property Law and Equity Equity acts on the basis of conscience and justice to a much greater extent than common law. Prior to 1877, there were distinct Courts of Law and Courts of Equity, operating separate systems of rules and principles. Upon the merger of the courts of equity and courts of law, it was declared that in the event […]
Conversion Where a person is under a duty to convert property of one type to another, (e.g. real property to personal property or vice versa), it may cause injustice, if it continues to be in its original form, because of a failure to perform an obligation. For example, there may be no income to the detriment of persons entitled, because […]
Development of Equitable Remedies The Chancery Courts were established in Ireland, in the 13th century in parallel with the Common law courts, in accordance with the English model. In the early years of the Common Law, it was extremely rigid. Cases would fail unless they could be brought squarely within the terms of certain pre-existing “writs” or forms of claim. […]
Types of Estoppel There are two species of so-called equitable estoppel, namely promissory estoppel and proprietary estoppel. Both involve a representation made by words or conduct on which a third-party relies and acts to his detriment. The person who makes the representation is not permitted to later act in a manner inconsistent with it, if and to the extent that […]