ABSTRACT
In simple terms, ‘freehold covenants’ are, as their name implies, promises made by deed between freeholders, whereby one party promises to do or not to do certain things on their own land for the benefit of neighbouring land. The history of land law is replete with references to the differences between ‘common law’ and ‘equity’, and the law of freehold covenants is one area in which the old distinctions have some relevance today. The story of the courts of equity is that they would always act to mitigate the harshness of the common law, and this is reflected in the modern rules concerning the enforcement of freehold covenants. One of the great steps forward in land law in England and Wales was the transformation of freehold covenants from purely personal obligations governed by the law of contract to proprietary obligations governed by the law of real property.
