Equity and conscience

Journal article

This article argues that the peculiarly 'common law tradition' separation of common law and equity had at its origins a principled basis in the concept of 'conscience'. But 'conscience' here did not mean primarily either the modern lay idea, or the 'conscience' of Christopher St German's exposition. Rather, it referred to the judge's, and the defendant's, private knowledge of facts which could not be proved at common law because of medieval common law conceptions of documentary evidence and o...

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Authors: Macnair, M

• Journal: Oxford Journal of Legal Studies
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 659-681
• Publication date: 2007-12-01
• DOI: 10.1093/ojls/gqm015
• EISSN: 1464-3820
• ISSN: 0143-6503
• Language: English