“Equity can be described but not defined. It is a body of law developed by the Court of Chancery in England before 1873. Its justification was that it corrected, supplemented and amended the common law. It softened and modified many of the injustices in common law, and provided remedies where at law they were either inadequate or non-existent Meagher, Gummow and Lehane, Equity Doctrines and Remedies (Butterworth 1992 3rd Edition, Page 3) Evaluate this statement with reference to the nature and purpose of Equity today.”

According to the author equity can be described but not defined, this is true for the most part, for example, equity today can be described as being uncertain which gives it flexibility. This can be seen in the case of Inwards v Baker   where a father allowed his son to build on his land a bungalow and also contributed 50% of the costs towards the construction of the bungalow. However, years later the father had passed away and all of his land was willed to his mistress who brought proceedings to gain possession of the bungalow. It was held that the son should keep the bungalow under an implied trust although if a common law solution was reached it would have been highly unlikely that the son would have kept the property. This case is a good example of the uncertain nature of equity today and how it remains in large parts indefinable because of this; it also shows that equity will …(short extract)