ABSTRACT
The earliest cases of equitable relief in this area concerned breaches by tenants of covenants in leases and the consequent attempts by lessors to forfeit the lease. The breach might consist of a failure to pay rent, or the failure by the tenant to perform some other covenant. It was, at one time, considered that only the former breach could attract equitable relief, but since the House of Lords decision on Shiloh Spinners Ltd v Harding (1973), it has been accepted that equitable relief may be granted in respect of non-money covenants. The landlord and tenant cases were central to the development of the equitable doctrine of relief against forfeiture, but in this area statute has now superseded the equitable doctrine. For example, s 146(2) of the Property Law Act 1958 (Vic) substitutes a statutory jurisdiction to grant relief. Nevertheless, the equitable principles for granting relief remain relevant for the exercise of the statutory jurisdiction.
