Nowadays Equity has become more rigid and has certain rules which must be obeyed by if equity is to be claimed. These rules ore called the Maxims of Equity. Some of the more common maxims include:

This type of law is now called equity.  Although they were both equal laws that ran side by side, they differed greatly.  Where common law was rigid and unchanging, equity would deal with any case that would not be seen in common courts.  The Chancellor also has the power to provide whatever remedy that he felt was best in the given situation.  This made it a much more flexible and fair way of law then common law.  Until 1616 both systems were seen as equal but then a case arose, the Earl of Oxford’s case, which changed that.  The case resulted in both the common law and equity having opposing views of the result.  Where the common law argued what the law said to be right, equity showed that this was unfair and proposed a different result.  After many arguments the outcome was left up to the King, James I, who said that if disputes occurred between the rules of Common law and Equity, Equity prevails.  This was an important decision as it gave Equity the power to fill in the gaps that common rule made.  It made it the dominant power of the two.

The common laws and Equity are often described as the ‘twin pillars’ of English law.  This is because they are both equal and are both needed to hold up the country.  They are both balanced and both are as important as the other.  If one is taken away, the other will crumble.  From 1873 – 1877 a number of Judicature Acts were placed which meant that the two courts could become one, but still run the same and keep their own separate sets of laws.  

Nowadays Equity has become more rigid and has certain rules which must be obeyed by if equity is to be claimed.  These rules ore called the Maxims of Equity.  Some of the more common maxims include:

‘Delay defeats equities’  this means that if equity is to be claimed then it must be done a suitable amount of time after the crime, a long delay  can mean that equity is not allowed to be claimed for.  An case illustrating this is the Leaf v International Galleries.  In this case a painting was wrongly sold described as an original.  The buyer did not find out for 5 years that is was actually a fake so when the case was brought to the attention of the court the delay was said to be too long so equity could not be applied for.

Other examples are ‘He who comes to equity must come with clean hands’ and ‘He who seeks equity must do equity’.  In general you are only allowed equity if you are fair.

In equity there is a much broader range of remedy compared to that of common law were the only remedy is damages.  There are four important equitable remedies.

1. Injunction:  This orders the defendants to do or not do something.  This could be used against stalkers to make them stay away from you, or against neighbours to make sure they don’t make too much noise.
2. Specific Performance:  This compels a party to fulfil a previous agreement.  This could used if someone promised to sell their house to you then backed out of the agreement.  Equity would say that this was unfair and the agreement should be seen through.
3. Rectification:  Alters the words of a document which does not express the true intentions of the parties to it.  There are many examples that could be used to show rectification.  If you change your name then legal documents like your birth certificate and passport would have to be changed.  In addition, when getting married or divorced then legal documents have to be changed using rectification.
4. Rescission:  Restores parties to a contract to the position they were in before the contact was signed.  Like rectification divorce uses rescission.  Another example would be when faulty good are returned