Highlights
In recent years, a number of scholars have offered theoretical perspectives on equity that seek to identify its character and purpose as a distinctive element of the legal system. In this paper, I take stock of this recent work, asking what about equity it illuminates and what it leaves unexplored. I then assess the prospects of building on recent theoretical work to set out a general account of equity that both describes the practice in all its dimensions and shows the practice to be normatively desirable in light of political and moral ideals. I suggest that such a general account is likely to show that the idea of equity departs in profound ways from the usual preoccupations of private law.
CLT Co-Director, Professor Andrew Halpin presented his paper on, 'Analytical, Normative, Aspirational: Connecting and Disconnecting Theoretical Approaches to Rights' at the first Meeting on Basic Legal Positions organised by the Research Forum on Basic Legal Positions- a joint venture formed by the CLT and the Lisbon Legal Theory from the University of Lisbon.
Professor Andrew Halpin's paper looked at the conundrum faced when we seek a fuller understanding of individual liberty. The evident advantages of a single individual possessing liberty cannot be simply transferred to a greater number of beneficiaries, and the conclusion that in order to extend the advantages of individual liberty to all, something other than liberty is required.
