ABSTRACT
In common parlance, ‘covenant’ means nothing more than a solemn promise. In law, and especially in property law, it has a stricter meaning: a covenant is a promise in a deed. The significance is, of course, that putting a promise in a deed makes it ipso facto enforceable at Law, whether or not consideration is given for the promise. Equity, by contrast, ‘looks to the substance and not to the form’. In consequence, if the person to whom the promise is made (the covenantee) gave actual consideration for the promise, then he may enforce it against the promisor (covenantor) either at Law (typically by an action for damages for breach of contract) or, other things being equal, in Equity (typically, by injunction or by an order for specific performance). If, however, the covenantee gave no real consideration for the promise, then he may sue at Law, because the Law regards the formality of a deed as itself sufficient to create a unilateral contract; but he has no claim in Equity, because Equity regards a covenant unsupported by actual consideration (a voluntary covenant) as a mere, unenforceable promise.
