ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the two sets of rules or systems which apply to landownership: common law and equity. It explores and applies the impact of legal and equitable interests and remedies specifically in relation to land. The chapter examines the development and inadequacies of the common law system, explaining the role of equity in resolving the deficiencies of the common law. The evolution and nature of the trust and difference between rights recognised by equity or equitable interests and rights recognised by law or legal interests are discussed next. After the Norman Conquest, a system of uniform law was created that applied generally rather than varying locally and so became known as 'common law', enforced in the courts of the king. If payment is not made, the owner of the rentcharge has a right of entry to the land to enforce it. Equity has created interests that are incapable of being recognised by the common law.
