Equity IX

Those that were disappointed or those that were denied justice however were not without recourse and they began petitioning the king who is the highest authority in the kingdom appealing to his sense of justice and fair-play. Equity itself is synonymous to justice and fair-play and the word simply means fair and impartial.

Initially the king dealt with the petitions himself but as the number of petitions increased the task was delegated to the Chancellor who became known as the keeper of the king’s conscious. When a litigant seeks an equitable remedy, he or she is in fact appealing to the conscious of the king. The Chancellor, on behalf of the king, decided the cases on what was morally right, and it would be fair to say that equity blurs the lines or the distinction between what is morally right and legally right and while it is common enough to hear people say that what is morally wrong is not legally wrong, English Law is not so cut and dry especially in cases and instances that concern minors, or where there is clear evidence of oppressive or suppressive behavior.

It is important to note that because equity came about to remedy the inability of the common law to provide a just and fair solution, if there is a conflict between common law and equity, equity will prevail. This is simply because, more than anything, equity is concerned only with what is right.

Copyright © 2019 by Dyarne Jessica Ward