Common Law and Equity (2024)

FAQs

What is the main difference between law and equity? ›

These equitable doctrines and procedures are distinguished from "legal" ones. While legal remedies typically involve monetary damages, equitable relief typically refers to injunctions, specific performance, or vacatur. A court will usually award equitable remedies when a legal remedy is insufficient or inadequate.

Under California law, legal claims entail a right to a jury, but equitable claims do not. In a case involving both legal and equitable claims, California law generally requires that the court try the equitable claims first, before holding a jury trial for any remaining legal claims.

The Seventh Amendment was interpreted to mean that equitable and legal issues could not be tried in the same suit, so that such aid in the federal courts had to be sought in separate proceedings.

Courts of equity are now recognized for complementing the common law by addressing its shortcomings and promoting justice. In the early years of the United States, some states followed the English tradition of maintaining separate courts for law and equity.

A typical example of an equitable remedy is monetary loss. The party who has been wronged may receive money as compensation for their losses, even if the other party does not have enough money to pay.

• Most claims arising “in equity” ask the court for an injunction, that is, an order that the. respondent do something or refrain from doing something. This is distinguished from claims. arising “in law,” where the plaintiff demands an award of damages as compensation for injuries.

Here, the trustee is the holder of the legal title, meaning they have the duty and authority to manage, maintain, and make decisions concerning the property. This management must always align with the trust's terms and the best interests of the beneficiary. Conversely, the beneficiary possesses the equitable title.

Equitable relief is distinguished from remedies for legal actions in that, instead of seeking merely monetary damages, the plaintiff is seeking that the court compels the defendant to perform a certain act or refrain from a certain act. Common types of equitable relief are injunctions, specific performance, or vacatur.

Examples: Suit in equity: A homeowner files a lawsuit against their neighbor to stop them from building a fence that would block their view. The homeowner is seeking an injunction, which is an equitable remedy, to prevent the neighbor from building the fence.

To request equitable relief, you or your representative should write a letter to your local Social Security office explaining that you received misinformation that caused you to delay enrollment. You can find the address of your local office by calling 800-772-1213 or visiting www.ssa.gov/locator.

What is the equitable estoppel relief? ›

Equitable relief: A court may grant equitable relief, such as an order for the specific performance of a contract, to provide the person asserting estoppel with the benefit of the bargain that they reasonably expected from the false representation.

Equitable relief is a court-granted remedy that requires a party to act or refrain from performing a particular act in cases where legal remedies are not considered to provide sufficient restitution.

Equity supplements strict rules of law and allow courts to use discretion and apply justice in accordance with natural law. The common law is a strict, principle-based reasoning that uses the circ*mstances of a case to evaluate the laws that are applicable.

An example of this is if someone is infringing on a trademark of yours, you can get monetary damages for the loss, but your business could be ruined if they continue. Equity is the additional solution that allows a court to tell another person to stop doing something via an injunction, among other things.

The states of Tennessee, Delaware and Mississippi are the three states maintaining distinctly separate courts of equity: Chancery Court. Yet every jurisdiction, state and federal, maintains equity jurisprudence, even if more commonly administered in the same tribunal.

Equity and Justice

Practicing equity helps address imbalanced social systems. However, justice can take equity one step further by changing societal systems in order to achieve sustainable and equitable access for future generations in the long-term.

The term “equity” refers to fairness and justice and is distinguished from equality: Whereas equality means providing the same to all, equity means recognizing that we do not all start from the same place and must acknowledge and make adjustments to imbalances.

In a civil lawsuit the court will award monetary damages, however, equity was formed when monetary damages could not adequately deal with the loss. An example of this is if someone is infringing on a trademark of yours, you can get monetary damages for the loss, but your business could be ruined if they continue.

equity allows a judge to issue orders that can either be preventative (prohibiting a party from engaging in a potential behavior it is considering) or remedial (compelling a party to stop doing something it currently is doing)