Equity: The indispensable corrective to the rigidity of universal law

“ And yet these are subjects of the deepest interest, even to those who study legislation merely as a science. A series of laws [Pg 162] are exhibited, persevered in for centuries, by a nation always eminent for practical wisdom, of which the result has almost invariably been failure, or worse than failure; which in scarcely a single instance have attained their objects, and in most cases have produced effects precisely opposite to the intentions of their framers;—have aggravated whatever they were intended to diminish, and produced whatever they were intended to prevent. ”

“ A law no longer serves its purpose, if, from having been a benefit, it has become a detriment, inasmuch as its observance now would be wicked, or impossible, or too burdensome. In this case the law ceases, since it is now contrary to the supreme law that the common welfare be promoted. Example: A particular law forbade the use of fat or grease in the preparation of food on days of abstinence. ”

“ A law, instead of having more meanings than one, may have none at all, the different parts of it being repugnant, so as to destroy each other’s significance. In this case it is the duty of the judicature to ascertain in some other way the true sententia legis, and to correct the letter of the law accordingly. ”

“ When then the law has spoken in general terms, and there arises a case of exception to the general rule, it is proper, in so far as the lawgiver omits the case and by reason of his universality of statement is wrong, to set right the omission by ruling it as the lawgiver himself would rule were he there present, and would have provided by law had he foreseen the case would arise. ”

“ Given a definite rule of law, a departure from it by a hair’s-breadth is visible to all men; but within the sphere of individual judgment the differences of honest opinion are so manifold and serious that dishonest opinion can pass in great part unchallenged and undetected. Where the duty of the judicature is to execute justice in accordance with fixed and known principles, the whole force of the public conscience can be brought to the enforcement of that duty and the maintenance of those principles. ”

“ The distinction between law and equity is as naked and as broad as ever. To entitle the plaintiff to an equitable interposition of the court, he must show a proper case for the interference of a court of chancery, and one in which he has no adequate or complete relief at law. The judgment vesting him with the logal title shows that he has a complete, appropriate, and ample remedy at law by ejectment. ”

“ Congress has repeatedly exercised its power to limit the use of the injunction in the federal courts. The first limitation on the equity jurisdiction of the federal courts is to be found in section 16 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which provided that no equity suit should be maintained where there was a full and adequate remedy at law. ”

“ Magistrates, attorneys, pleaders, all who pasture on the legal common, distinguish two elements in every case—law and equity. Equity is the outcome of facts, law is the application of principles to facts. A man may be right in equity but wrong in law, without any blame to the judge. Between his conscience and the facts there is a whole gulf of determining reasons unknown to the judge, but which condemn or legitimatize the act. A judge is not God; the duty is to adapt facts to principles, to judge cases of infinite variety while measuring them by a fixed standard. ”

“ If the application of a law would work injustice, no judge can in conscience pronounce sentence according to that law; but there are many cases recognized in jurisprudence in which courts of equity afford relief to rights that cannot be defended or protected in courts of law, and in cases of this kind the judge should be guided by recognized principles of natural justice and the rules of his court. ”

“ But if the habit prevails of going beyond the law, and superseding this judicature, of carrying offences, real or supposed, into the legislative bodies, who shall establish themselves into courts of criminal equity, (so the Star Chamber has been called by Lord Bacon,) all the evils of the Star Chamber are revived. A large and liberal construction in ascertaining offences, and a discretionary power in punishing them, is the idea of criminal equity; which is in truth a monster in Jurisprudence. ”

“ There is no cruelty in the maintenance of a righteous law, for the maintenance of law is essential to the happiness of a people. Thus the strict execution of law is consistent with the most true and tender affection.. ”

“ Equity is, therefore, the noblest act of strict justice. For legal justice is preferred to particular justice (1703, 1715) , and equity is the superior act of legal justice. In will and intention the common good and justice must take precedence over laws and statutes at all times; but in act the supreme ends of law are served, except in extraordinary cases, by obedience to law. ”

“ In reality there are two, and only two, foundations of law; and they are both of them conditions without which nothing can give it any force: I mean equity and utility. With respect to the former, it grows out of the great rule of equality, which is grounded upon our common nature, and which Philo, with propriety and beauty, calls the mother of justice. All human laws are, properly speaking, only declaratory; they may alter the mode and application, but have no power over the substance of original justice. ”

“ Thus, if a madman demands from a depositary the return of his revolver in order to commit murder, the letter of the law would uphold the madman, but equity would decide against him; if the enemy are attacking a city and one cannot repel them except by disregarding an ordinance of the city, the law would forbid one to transgress the ordinance, while equity would command one to transgress it. ”

“ Under ordinary conditions the only forms of pressure to which he is in any way amenable are public opinion and the action of his fellow judges. It is the last which is most immediately effective, and to which we should look for the reform of abuses. Any remedy applied from without is fraught with risk. It is far better, from every standpoint, that the remedy should come from within. In no other nation in the world do the courts wield such vast and far-reaching power as in the United States. ”

“ All that is necessary is that the courts as a whole should exercise this power with the farsighted wisdom already shown by those judges who scan the future while they act in the present. Let them exercise this great power not only honestly and bravely, but with wise insight into the needs and fixed purposes of the people, so that they may do justice and work equity, so that they may protect all persons in their rights, and yet break down the barriers of privilege, which is the foe of right. ”

“ On balance, our analysis of the nature of respondents' duty of fair representation action and the remedy they seek convinces us that this action is a legal one. Although the search for an adequate 18th-century analog revealed that the claim includes both legal and equitable issues, the money damages respondents seek are the type of relief traditionally awarded by courts of law. Thus, the Seventh Amendment entitles respondents to a jury trial, and we therefore affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals. ”

“ The 16th section of the Judicial Act of 1789 provides, 'that suits in equity shall not be sustained in either of the Courts of the United States in any case where plain, adequate, and complete remedy can be had at law.' This is merely declaratory of the pre-existing rule, and does not apply where the remedy at law, is not 'plain, adequate, and complete,' or, in other words, where it is not 'as practical and as efficient to the ends of justice and to its prompt administration as the remedy in equity.' 3 Pet., 215. ”

“ Rule 22 declares: 'If at any time it appear that a suit commenced in equity should have been brought as an action on the law side of the court, it shall be forthwith transferred to the law side and be there proceeded with, with only such alteration in the pleadings as shall be essential.' As plaintiff's bill shows that it had a plain, adequate, and complete remedy at law, defendants were entitled upon proper application to have the suit transferred and trial by jury. ”

“ In other words, the effort is to restore the plaintiff by injunction to rights of which he had been deprived. The function of an injunction is to afford preventive relief, not to redress alleged wrongs which had been committed already. An injunction will not be used to take property out of the possession of one party and put it into that of another. . . . The plaintiff has a full, adequate, and complete remedy at law, and the case is not one for the jurisdiction of a court of equity.'
The supreme court of the territory thus concluded its opinion in Laughlin v. ”

“ Most difficult, however, are questions which arise in connection with suits in equity to restrain state officers from enforcing state statutes alleged to be unconstitutional. The plainest principles of justice would seem in many cases to require a preventive remedy, for it might be of vital importance that an officer be restrained from doing an unlawful act to the irreparable injury of the individual. ”

“ But this bill does not aver, nor does it appear, that there would be any multiplicity of suits if complainants were left to their remedy at law.
The sole ground of equity jurisdiction put forward is the inadequacy of remedy at law in that the injury threatened is not susceptible of complete compensation in damages. The mere assertion that the apprehended acts will inflict irreparable injury in not acts will inflict irreparable injury is not the court can reasonably infer that such would be the result, and in this particular we think the bill fatally defective. ”

“ Action in a court of equity, however, will give relief for cases not provided for in law. Example: One may obtain an order from the court restraining a neighbor from injury, when the law itself gives only the right to recover damages for injury done. ”

“ If it be said that our remedy is at law, it is admitting that we have a case. But equity will maintain a concurrent jurisdiction where there is fraud, because it can sift the conscience and compel the delivery of papers. If there is a fraudulent deed, equity strikes it down, never to rise again. If we had gone to law and recovered the estate, complete justice would not have been done, because the will of 1811 would have remained standing to defraud the living and injure the memory of the dead. Full and final relief is only to be had in chancery. ”

“ In the next place, by a perpetual injunction the remedy is made complete through all future time. Whereas an information or indictment at the common law can dispose only of the existing nuisance, and for future acts new prosecutions must be brought. In the next place the remedial justice in equity may be prompt and immediate before irreparable mischief is done, whereas at law nothing can be done except after trial and upon the award of judgment.' 2 Story's Equity, 203 ”

“ In so refusing incidental relief against petitioner, surely the Court flouts settled principles of equity. Equity does not do justice by halves; its remedies are flexible. 'A writ of injunction may be said to be a process capable of more modifications than any other in the law; it is so malleable that it may be moulded to suit the various circumstances and occasions presented to a court of equity. ”

“ Hence, if equity assume jurisdiction over such a contract at all, it must assume jurisdiction over the entire contract, and give full relief. It cannot give relief as to a part of the contract, and leave the plaintiff to sue at law as to the remainder. It would be a wrong to a defendant to permit a single cause of action to be made the subject of two actions against him. Moreover, equity can never permit an action at law to be brought upon a cause of action which has been the subject of a decree in equity. ”

“ The nature of a court of equity will readily permit the extension of its jurisdiction to matters of law; but it is not a little to be suspected, that the attempt to extend the jurisdiction of the courts of law to matters of equity will not only be unproductive of the advantages which may be derived from courts of chancery, on the plan upon which they are established in this State, but will tend gradually to change the nature of the courts of law, and to undermine the trial by jury, by introducing questions too complicated for a decision in that mode. ”