The common law and equity Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

The common law and equity - Case Study Example Equity's impact remains as strong as ever and traces down its foundation to Norman Conquest. Equity to the layman means fairness and justice, but in the legal context its meaning is much more strictly defined. There are rules of equity which must be obeyed. Like any common law, its development may appear equally inflexible and rigid1. Its rights gave foundation to many modern laws and the remedies are daily used by the legal practitioner of the 1990s. Therefore, it plays a substantial role in (British) English legal system. It is a historical creation with modern usage. It is not a pre-conceived theory rather equity is delineated by a series of historical events.2. In the medieval period the chancellor was the most important person in the country next to the king himself. By varying existing writs or inventing new ones, the chancellor could have some influence on the development of the law. Slapper, G. and D. Kelly (2006) said that the common law system develops whereby a civil dispute had to be brought before the appropriate Royal Court by a writ. A claimant could only sue at common law, if only his complaint came within the scope of an existing writ. In the thirteen century, available writs covered very narrow ground. Even if the claim came within the scope of an existing writ, but only due to some reason, such as the power and influence of the defendant, the opponent could not get justice before a common law court. Latter the petition was used to obtain relief where the common law was inflexible and incapable of providing a remedy. Hanbury & Martin (2005) argued that the common law developed into a comprehensive system, but a litigant could only sue at common law if his complaint came within the scope of an existing writ. However, the systems quickly became rigid because judges, feared a flood of actions as a result of the popularity of the royal justice, which stopped issuing new forms of action. As a result, this attitude proved to be a major obstacle to the development of new rules and principles. By thirteen century, hurt litigants filed a petition to the chancellor, to find a more justified solution to their problem. Chancellor was trying to give relief in tough cases, and the medieval chancellor was peculiarly well fitted for this work. If the petition was successful, the chancellor's conclusion would usually be different from that of common law court. Otherwise the matter would have been litigant at common law court. As a consequence, the growth of these petitions rose. The decisions were made on the basis of fairness and reason and so the notion of 'equity' was founded. The common law tradition grew in to the ELS3 through a long process of rationalization of traditions, customs and local practices, during medieval time. The Anglo-Saxon customs were there before the Norman Conquest, but afterwards were joined with Royal Justice in a consolidation of 'local laws' and a vast body of judicial decisions have been built up which resulted in the forms of the present laws. The common law has developed by the judges during and after this century. Customs have a strong influence, which seemed ceased, in forming the new laws. When equity originally developed, gave a gloss to the common

Global Credit Crunch Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Global Credit Crunch - Essay Example The overall financial solutions to UK clients thus would be greatly affected. (CEBR, 2008)1 Therefore it is necessary to find necessary solutions to various aspects of present global credit crisis to strengthen the UK economy. The global credit crunch has had the attention each and every human being for bad reasons. The present crisis has effected in job lay offs around the world mostly in the developed countries like USA, the UK, Japan, etc. As mentioned earlier, one of the root causes was excessive lending by the banks to the customers. In other words, the banks and other financial institutions lured the customers to borrow loan without any hassle such like low interest rates, 24 hours approval of loan, pay the installments after one year, etc. Such were the schemes offered by various banks to attract the wide range of customers mainly from housing sector.2 The banking authorities didn't even bother to check the liability of the person to whom they are lending, whether the person was able to pay back the money. The Bishop of London quoted in the Daily Telegraph that 'it is becoming clearer how far we have been mortgaging our children's tomorrow to fund our today, both financially and in our use of the finite resources of earth'.3 Looking at the past experiences of financial crisis occurred during the last millennium, it can be assumed that the process of borrowing from the financial institutions will be a Herculean task. The need to restore capital ratios and to recover the losses incurred, it is understandable the borrowers will have lesser flexibilities, less leverage, hike in interest rates and fees will soar at historical high. (John L. Moscione : p.6)4 The customers will have to face a strict scrutiny of their valuable documents before receiving loans as a process to identify previous lack luster performance by the bank officials. Implications for Lending The present crisis is the result of irregularities by the bank and financial institutions in providing loans to the customers without proper verification of their documents and checking the liability of the person. Excessive liquidity with the financial institutions was the foundation for excessive lending by the banks to rake in more customers. In a bid to acquire more customers, they offered lucrative schemes which were spontaneously grabbed by the seekers. Credit crisis was inevitable in view of real estate market boom in recent years which blew the bubble by way of irregular mortgages, unverified loans without scrutinizing the income or assets of the borrower. This facilitated borrowers to indulge in fraud and leveraging of accounts. Most of the loans were approved on the house mortgage which was another cause for real estate boom all over the world. Selling and buying of houses were on spurge, with rates touching the all time high. According to statistics from the Bank of England, total net lending to individuals in January 2009 was 1.1 billion which was lower as compared to December 2008 that stood at 2.1 billion. The total net lending secured on dwellings was 0.7 billion in January 2009 as compared to 1.8 billion in December 2008.5 It is learnt from the