Basic Concepts of Equity and Trust- Tutorial 1
Equity has been described as “a body of rules which evolved from those
principles applied and administered by the Court of Chancery” + “operates on
the conscience of the owner of the legal interest”.
Characteristic features of equitable principles: consistent guidelines: the essence
of these equitable principles is to provide consistent guidelines at any given time
for judges in making their decisions, so the accusation can’t be levelled that the
decision depended on the whim of the judge.
Achieve justice: the underlying intention behind the principles is to achieve
justice between the parties, where this is not available at common law.
Conscience of the owner: the principles focus on the conscience of the legal
owner or property. They must act, in relation to that property, in a way which is
proper and fair.
Flexible and Evolving: a fundamental nature of these principles is that they are
flexible and constantly evolve to adapt to changing times.
Maxims of Equity- statements which embody the core principles of equity, to which
the court has regard in exercising in jurisdiction.
- “who come to equity must come with clean hands”
- “who seeks equity must do equity”
The term property encompasses all sorts of things. Among the most common forms
of property, aside from land are money, shares in companies and personal
possessions such as jewellery, paintings, and antiques. The concepts of legal and
equitable ownership can apply to all these types of property.
Legal and equitable ownership of property is known as the absolute owner.
The trust
- Arises where one person holds legal ownership of the property and the other
has equitable ownership.
- Settlor: the person who creates the trust is called ‘the settlor. They decide
who will be involved in the trust and what its terms should be.
- Trustee: the person who is holding the property for the benefit of another is
the trustee. The trustee has the legal ownership of the property.
Equity has been described as “a body of rules which evolved from those
principles applied and administered by the Court of Chancery” + “operates on
the conscience of the owner of the legal interest”.
Characteristic features of equitable principles: consistent guidelines: the essence
of these equitable principles is to provide consistent guidelines at any given time
for judges in making their decisions, so the accusation can’t be levelled that the
decision depended on the whim of the judge.
Achieve justice: the underlying intention behind the principles is to achieve
justice between the parties, where this is not available at common law.
Conscience of the owner: the principles focus on the conscience of the legal
owner or property. They must act, in relation to that property, in a way which is
proper and fair.
Flexible and Evolving: a fundamental nature of these principles is that they are
flexible and constantly evolve to adapt to changing times.
Maxims of Equity- statements which embody the core principles of equity, to which
the court has regard in exercising in jurisdiction.
- “who come to equity must come with clean hands”
- “who seeks equity must do equity”
The term property encompasses all sorts of things. Among the most common forms
of property, aside from land are money, shares in companies and personal
possessions such as jewellery, paintings, and antiques. The concepts of legal and
equitable ownership can apply to all these types of property.
Legal and equitable ownership of property is known as the absolute owner.
The trust
- Arises where one person holds legal ownership of the property and the other
has equitable ownership.
- Settlor: the person who creates the trust is called ‘the settlor. They decide
who will be involved in the trust and what its terms should be.
- Trustee: the person who is holding the property for the benefit of another is
the trustee. The trustee has the legal ownership of the property.
