ABSTRACT
This chapter helps the reader to understand the shades of meaning of the expression 'equity' as used over the centuries and to comprehend the historical development and contribution of equity to English law. It aims to appreciate the nineteenth-century reforms responsible for the administration of law and equity and to recognise the various maxims of equity. The system of equity includes that portion of natural justice which is judicially enforceable but which for various reasons was not enforced by the courts of common law. One of the important contributions of equity was in the field of the 'use'. The 'use' was a mode of transferring property to another. The Chancellor's intervention in the context of the 'use' of land created the notion of duality of land ownership, which led to duality of ownership of other types of property. The contributions of equity in the development of the law may be classified into three categories: Exclusive, concurrent and auxiliary jurisdictions.
