Trusts and Equity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Trusts and Equity - Essay Example Though since the Judicature Act came into force in 1875 the rules of Common Law and Equity are recognized and administered in the same court, yet they still remain distinct bodies of law, governed largely by different principles. Like the Common Law, the rules of Equity are judicial law, i.e. to find them we must look in the first instances to the decisions of the judges who have administered Equity. But some branches of Equity, like some branches of the Common Law, have been restated with amendments and additions in codifying Acts, such as the Partnership Act 1890.Meanwhile, Equity is adding new fields of jurisdiction. In the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth, fraud and accident especially the accidental loss of a document are regarded as matters peculiarly appropriate for relief in a Court of Equity matters which a Common Law Court cannot sufficiently deal with. Mortgages form a special subject, which the Chancellor deals with. A man borrows money and transfers his land to the creditor, making the creditor legally owner. He promises to pay on a definite date. If he keeps his promise, his land is to be returned to him; if not, it is to belong to the creditor forever. Suppose by mistake or accident he fails to repay on the day named, is it fair that he should be held to the terms of the deed? Equity says no and soon goes so far as to lay down a rule that a mortgage is a mere security for money, and something quite different from a genuine transfer of the ownership.... (Polloczek, 1999, p. 9) Though since the Judicature Act came into force in 1875 the rules of Common Law and Equity are recognised and administered in the same court, yet they still remain distinct bodies of law, governed largely by different principles. Like the Common Law, the rules of Equity are judicial law, i.e. to find them we must look in the first instances to the decisions of the judges who have administered Equity. But some branches of Equity, like some branches of the Common Law, have been restated with amendments and additions in codifying Acts, such as the Partnership Act 1890. (Geldart, 1995, p.21) Meanwhile Equity is adding new fields of jurisdiction. In the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth, fraud and accident especially the accidental loss of a document are regarded as matters peculiarly appropriate for relief in a Court of Equity matters which a Common Law Court cannot sufficiently deal with. Mortgages form a special subject, which the Chancellor deals with. A man borrows money and transfers his land to the creditor, making the creditor legally owner. He promises to pay on a definite date. If he keeps his promise, his land is to be returned to him; if not, it is to belong to the creditor forever. Suppose by mistake or accident he fails to repay on the day named, is it fair that he should be held to the terms of the deed Equity says no, and soon goes so far as to lay down a rule that a mortgage is a mere security for money, and something quite different from a genuine transfer of the ownership. (Geldart, 1995, p.31) We have the rules about the assignment of rights under contract. A owes money to B. Common Law regards this as purely a relation between A and B. B agrees with C that C shall have the right to