Excerpt from Cases on Equity Jurisdiction, Vol. 1 of 2: Edited With Sundry Notes and References

The present collection is meant to be a first book in equity. It is, therefore, an introduction and a guide, and as such deals with fundamental and underlying principles. It is believed that there is a place for such a work, and that a thorough familiarity with the essentials of the subject should precede the detailed study of the various topics of equity jurisprudence.

For this reason the first four hundred pages of the work deal with the origin, the nature, the extent and limitations of equity, the inter-relation of law and equity, and the principles and maxims controlling the administration of equity. The cases selected for this part of the work do not merely illustrate: they develop the doctrine, and it is believed that a careful study of the various cases composing this part will prepare the student to cross the threshold and examine in detail with fulness of knowledge the various phases of the subject.

It may be a source of surprise to some, and provoke not a little criticism, that the maxims should be treated in a work of this kind, for a maxim is supposed to be so general in its nature as to be inapplicable to a specific state of facts. That is perhaps true in common law where the maxims are wholly artificial: it is not true in equity where the maxims are natural, fundamental, and express in a happy form the compressed wisdom of centuries. If the maxim be not a truth in and for itself it nevertheless points the way to truth. It was therefore thought that a collection of cases developing the underlying principles, eventually crystalized into a maxim, would be a genuine service to the student. Should this view be unjustified it is a simple matter to skip this portion of the book.

In some instances the cases within a section are arranged logically; in others chronologically, as seemed best to suit the purpose in hand. The old cases have been constantly consulted, following in this respect the advice of my Lord Coke: "That in reading of these or any new reports, he neglect not in any case the reading of the old books of years reported in former ages, for assuredly out of the old fields must spring and grow the new corn."

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