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Comprehension check

Exercise 1. Answer the following questions?

  1. What is the period of local justice?

  2. What is meant by ‘custom’?

  3. What is the difference between a custom and a law?

  4. What is the difference between local and general customs?

  5. What is the emergence of the common law?

Exercise 2. Explain and extend the following statements.

  1. The body of law which at present applies in England and Wales developed very gradually over a long period.

  2. Drawing upon many different sources, the English common law system finally emerged and has become the basis of law not only in this country but also in the United States and in many Commonwealth countries.

Discuss

It is important to understand the difference between statutory law and common law.

3.3 Equity

With righteousness shall he judge

the world: and the people with equity

Prayer Book

Historically this was an important source and it still plays a part today with many of our legal concepts having developed from equitable principles. The word ‘equity’ has a meaning of ‘fairness’ and this is the basis on which it operates, when adding to our law.

      1. 3.3.1 The development of equity

Equity developed because of problems in the common law. Only certain types of case were recognised. The law was also very technical; if there was an error in the formalities the person making the claim would lose the case.

Another major problem was the fact that the only remedy the common law courts could give was ‘damages’ – that is an order that the defendant pay a sum of money to the plaintiff by way of compensation. In some cases this would not be the best method of putting matters right between the parties. For example in a case of trespass to land, where perhaps the defendant had built on his neighbor’s land, the building would still be there and the plaintiff would have lost the use of that part of his land. In such a situation the plaintiff would probably prefer to have the building removed, rather than be given money in compensation.

People who could not obtain justice in the common law courts appealed directly to the King. Most of these cases were referred to the King’s Chancellor, who was both a lawyer and a priest, and who became known as the keeper of the King’s conscience. This was because the Chancellor based his decision on principles of natural justice and fairness, making a decision on what seemed ‘right’ in the particular case rather than on the strict following of previous precedents. He was also prepared to look beyond legal documents, which were considered legally binding by the common law courts, and to take account of what the parties had intended to do.

To ensure that the decisions were ‘fair’ the Chancellor used new procedures such as subpoenas, which ordered a witness to attend court or risk imprisonment for refusing to obey the Chancellor’s order. He also developed new remedies which were able to compensate plaintiffs more fully than the common law remedy of damages. The main equitable remedies were: injunctions; specific performance; rescission; and rectification. These are all still used today.

Eventually a Court of Chancery under the control of the Chancellor came into being which operated these rules of fairness or equity. Equity was not a complete system of law; it merely filled the gaps in the common law and softened the strict rules of the common law.

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