Equity XXII

10) He who seeks equity must do equity. As per the maxim, an applicant or a litigant who is relying on equity must have acted equitably himself or herself before he or she can petition a court of equity to intervene on his or her behalf. If the applicant’s or litigant’s actions are tainted with fraud or malice than a court of equity certainly would not intervene on his or her behalf.

Whether a court of equity chooses to intervene or otherwise is entirely at the discretion of the court and a court of equity will be reluctant to intervene or will be hesitant to intervene if it finds that the actions of the applicant or the litigant is tainted with fraud and malice.

In Haywood v Cope (1858), it was decided that, as per Lord Romilly MR, - the discretion of the Court must be exercised according to fixed and settled rules; you cannot exercise a discretion by merely considering what, as between the parties, would be fair to be done; what one person may consider fair, another person may consider very unfair; you must have some settled rule and principle upon which to determine how that discretion is to be exercised.

According to the rules and established principles (equitable maxims), mentioned above, a court of equity will only be prepared to intervene if they find that the applicant or the litigant has acted equitably himself or herself.

Copyright © 2019 by Dyarne Jessica Ward