Equity Stirring: The Story of Justice Beyond Law

Sir Frederick Pollock wrote that "English-speaking lawyers...have specialised the name of Equity." It is typical for legal texts on the law of equity to acknowledge the diverse ways in which the word "equity" is used and then to focus on the legal sense of the word to the exclusion of all others. This book - now available in paperback - is an exploration of the meaning of equity as artists and thinkers have portrayed it within the law and without. Author Gary Watt finds in law and literature an equity that is necessary to good life and good law, but which does not require us to subscribe to a moral or "natural law" ideal. It is an equity that takes a principled and practical stand against rigid formalism and unthinking routine in law and life, and so provides timely resistance to current forces of extremism and entitlement culture. The book provides the legal scholar with deep insight into the rhetorical, literary, and historical foundations of the idea of equity in law, and it provides the law student with a cultural history of, and an imaginative introduction to, the technical law of equity and trusts.