Equity lLegal principles based on justice and fairness lSystem based on equity is known as „law of equity“ lServes as a complement to common law lEquitable remedies are discretionary lAllows courts to use their own will to resolve the proces on base of „justice“ , if the common law could caused an unjustice judgement lModified by 12 basic and 5 additional general ethical statements What is equity? Origins lEquity was the reaction on lacks in common law, because this law was based on „writs“ (equivalent to „norms“ in continental law system) lWrits were strickt and the applicant had to use the right formulation of writ (there were over 50 different formulations) lWrits were often the cause of unjustice lBecause of that, there was found The Court of Chancery in the 15th century with Chancellor in it´s head lEarly Chancellors were catholic clerics with knowledge of Roman and canon law lThe most important Chancellor was sir Thomas More (appointed 1529), who was also a lawyer and all Chancellors after him were lawyers too Chancellors Criticism of equity lPrinciple of equity is highly individual so the decisions can be different from one Chancellor to another → main point of criticms of equity lCriticism by John Selden: ‘Equity is a roguish thing: for law we have a measure, know what to trust to; equity is according to the conscience of him that is Chancellor, and as that is larger or narrower, so is equity. ‘Tis all one as if they should make the standard for the measure we call a foot, a Chancellor’s foot; what an uncertain measure would this be? One Chancellor has a long foot, another a short foot, a third an indifferent foot: ‘tis the same thing in a Chancellor’s conscience.’ Equity and common law lIn conflict between common law and equity, the equity prevails lThe penalty for disobeying equitable injunction and enforcing the common law is imprisonment lEquity and common law became one system in the second part of 19th century (equity still prevails) Recapitulation lLegal principles based on justice and fairness lModified by 12 and 5 additionals ethical statements lCourt of Chancery (15.century) lCriticism for different decisions made by chancellors lSir Thomas More: lawyer-chancellor, all chancellors after him were also lawyers lCommon law vs. equity→ equity should prevail lOne system with common law since the 19th century Sources •wikipedia.com •Marta Chromá: New Introduction to legal English, Volume I., Karolinum, 2011