General equity

Question 1

History of Equity

Answer 1

From the mid-14th Century, the categories of Writs and procedures are sealed. The common law becomes a rigid system of rules

Forms which dictated whether or not your case goes to court

• The form is all that matters
• There is legal certainty and predictability
• The rigidness of the form made people complain, and so the Lord Chancellor is called upon to do justice. The LC’s authority is based on ‘conscience,’ an objective moral judgment on the facts

Question 2

Conscience

Answer 2

Completely objective: it is an objective duty on people not to act in certain ways

Selden - conscience is subjective, and thus is dangerous to use as a standard in law