CERTAINTY & EQUITY

BY MERRYMAN
 CERTAINTY
Principle in law that holds that the law must provide
those subject to it with the ability to regulate their
conduct
Certainty
Civil Law Common Law
Supreme Value More functional
Unquestioned terms
Dogma Giving force of law
Fundamental Goal to judicial decisions
Only one of a
number of legal
values which
sometimes conflict
with each other
Seen as conflicting
with flexibility
 EQUITY
Power of the judge to mitigate the harshness of strict
application of a statute or to allocate property or
responsibility according to the respective facts
Equity
Justice of the individual case
Development of Chancery Courts
Equity
Civil Law Common Law
Judges have no Centralized justice
inherent equitable England: became
power formulaic but you
Power can be given could petition to the
through a statute king /chancellor for
passed by the relief
legislature Distribution of
Sacrificed flexibility power: judge
for certainty Real life example:
Distribution of Post-Martial Law
power: legislature Constitution
Distinguishing Contributions
of Equity

Civil Contempt Power (power of

the court to punish individuals for
disobeying orders)
Distribution of Power

One is the public interest in clear, equal, and
foreseeable rules of law which enable those who are
subject to them to order their behavior in such a
manner as to avoid legal conflict or to make clear
predictions of their chances in litigation. The other
is the need for deciding current, concrete disputes
adequately, by giving due weight to the special and
perhaps unique circumstances of each case.
-Neuhaus
Current Day
Examples

Death
Penalty
 Current Day
Examples

Lowering the
age of criminal
responsibility