Philosophical Foundations of the Law of Equity

The law of Equity, a latecomer to the field of private law theory, raises fundamental questions about the relationships between law and morality, the nature of rights, and the extent to which we are willing to compromise on the rule of law ideal to achieve social goals. In this volume, leading scholars come together to address these and other questions about underlying principles of Equity and its relationship to the common law: What relationships, if any, are there between the legal, philosophical, and moral senses of 'equity'? Does Equity form a second-order constraint on law? If so, is its operation at odds with the rule of law? Do the various theories of Equity require some kind of separation of law and equity-and, if they do, what kind of separation? The volume further sheds light on some of the most topical questions of jurisprudence that are embedded in the debate around 'fusion'. A noteworthy addition to the Philosophical Foundations series, this volume is an important contribution to an ongoing debate, and will be of value to students and scholars across the discipline.

1 - Discretionary Justice
2 - Aristotle at the Foundations of the Law of Equity
3 - Equity, Justice and Conscience: Suitors behaving badly?
4 - Equity and the Right to Do Wrong
5 - Equity as Supplemental Law
6 - The Constitution of Equity
7 - Equity is Not a Single Thing
8 - Pathways to Legal Rights: The Function of Equity
9 - What's Special About Equity? Rights about Rights
10 - Fusion of Law and Confusion of Equity
11 - Form and Substance in the Fusion of Law and Equity
12 - Equitable Correction of Law
13 - What Can 'Equity's Darling' Tell Us About Equity?
14 - From Riggs v. Palmer to Shelley v. Kraemer: The Continuing Significance of the Law-Equity Distinction
15 - Some Varieties of Consent in Equity: Enhancing and Protecting Autonomy?
16 - Equity and Institutions
17 - The Equity of the Statute

Dennis Klimchuk is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Law at the University of Western Ontario. His main research interests are in philosophy of law, especially private law theory, and the history of political philosophy, especially the early modern period. He was a contributor to two earlier volumes in OUP's Philosophical Foundations of law series (on unjust enrichment and on property) and is co-editor, with Lisa Austin, of Private Law and the Rule of Law (OUP 2014). Irit Samet is a Professor in The Dickson Poon School of Law, which she joined in 2008 after teaching in Oxford and Essex. Irit's main research interests lie in the areas of equity, property law, theory of private law, and ethics. Her monograph on the normative foundations of the law of equity was published by OUP in 2018. Irit has published numerous papers in peer-reviewed journals (such as the MLR, Jurisprudence, Kantian Review, and OJLS), as well as in edited collections published by OUP (such as Philosophical Foundations of Fiduciary Law and Philosophical Foundations of Property Law). Henry E. Smith is Fessenden Professor of Law and the Director of the Project on the Foundations of Private Law at Harvard Law School. Previously, he taught at the Northwestern University School of Law and was the Fred A. Johnston Professor of Property and Environmental Law at Yale Law School. He has written extensively on property, equity, remedies, and private law theory.