ABSTRACT
The cases within group (2) are those within the principle of Mondel v Steel,5to which I have referred. In these cases there is a defence to the claim which the law recognizes (compare Sale of Goods Act, 1893, s 53). The cases within group (3) are those in which a court of equity would have regarded the cross-claims as entitling the defendant to be protected in one way or another against the plaintiff ’s claim. Reliance may be placed in a court of law upon any equitable defence or equitable ground for relief: so also any matter of equity on which an injunction against the prosecution of a claim might formerly have been obtained may be relied on as a defence. This may involve that there will have to be an ascertainment or assessment of the monetary value of the cross-claim which, as a matter of equity, can be relied on by way of defence. But this does not mean that all cross-claims may be relied on as defences to claims.”
