Courts of common law proceed by cer tain prescribed forms of action alone, and give relief only according to the kinds of actions, by a general and unqualified judgment for the plaintiff or the defend ant. There are many cases, however, in which a simple judgment for either party, without qualifications or conditions, will not do entire justice. Some modifications of the rights of both parties may be re quired; some restraints on one side or the other, or perhaps on both ; some quali fications or conditions present or future, temporary or permanent, ought to be an nexed to the exercise of rights or the re dress of injuries. To accomplish such objects the courts of law in this country have no machinery : according to their present constitution they can only adjudi cate by a simple judgment between the parties. Courts of equity, however, are not so restrained ; they adjudicate by de. twee pronounced upon a statement of his ease by the plaintiff, which he makes by a writing called a bill, and the written answer of the defendant, which is given in upon oath, and the evidence • of wit nesses, together, if necessary, with the evidence of all parties, also given in writing and upon oath. These decrees are so adjusted as to meet all the exi gencies of the case, and they vary, qualify, restrain, and model the remedy so as to suit it to mutual and adverse claims, and the real and substantial rights of all the parties, so far as such rights are ao knowledged by the rules of equity.
The courts of equity bring before them all the parties interested in the subject matter of the suit, and adjust the rights of all, however numerous ; whereas courts of law are compelled by their con stitution to limit their inquiry to the liti gating parties, although other persons may be interested; that is, they give a complete remedy in damages or otherwise for the particular wrong in question as between the parties to the action, though such remedy is in many cases an incom plete adjudication upon the general rights of the parties to the action, and fails alto gether as to other persons, not parties to the action, who yet may be interested in the result or in the subject matter in dis pute.
The description of a court of equity, as given by Mr. Justice Story in the En cyclopaedia Americana,' which he has filled up in his recent Treatise on Equity, is this. A court of equity has jurisdiction in cases where a plain, adequate, and com plete remedy cannot be had in the com mon law courts. The remedy must be plain, for if it be doubtful and obscure at law, equity will assert a jurisdiction. It must be adequate, for if at law it fall short of what the party is entitled to, that founds a jurisdiction in equity ; and it must be complete, that is, it must attain the full end and justice of the case ; it must reach the whole mischief and secure the whole right of the party present and future, otherwise equity will interpose and give relief. The jurisdiction of a
court of equity is sometimes concurrent with the jurisdiction of the courts of law ; sometimes assistant to it ; and sometimes exclusive. It exercises concurrent :tub diction in cases where the rights are parely of a legal nature, but where other and more efficient aid is required than a court of law can afford. In some of these cases courts of law formerly refused all redress, but now will grant it. For strict law comprehending established rules, and the jurisdiction of equity being called into action when the purposes of justice ren dered an exception to those rules neces sary, smccessive exceptions on the same grounds became the foundation of a gene ral principle, and could no longer be con sidered as a singular interposition. Thus law and equity are in continual progres sion, and the former is constantly gaining ground upon the latter. Every new and extraordinary interposition is by length of time converted into an old rule ; a great part of what is now strict law was formerly considered as equity, and the equitable decisions of this age will un avoidably be ranked under the strict law of the next. (Prof. Millar, View of the Eng. Govt.) But the jurisdiction having been once acquired at a time when there was no such redress at law, it is still retained by the courts of equity.
The most common exercise of the con current jurisdiction is in cases of account, accident, dower, fraud, mistake, partner ship, and partition. In many cases which fall under these heads, and especially in some cases of fraud, mistake, and acci dent, courts of law cannot and do not af ford any redress : in others they do, but not in so complete a manner as a court of equity.
A court of equity is also assistant to the jurisdiction of the courts of law in cases where the courts of law have no like authority. It will remove legal im pediments to the fair decision of a ques tion depending at law, as by restraining a party from improperly setting up, at a trial, some title or claim which would prevent the fair decision of the question in dispute ; by compelling him to dis cover, upon his own oath, facts which are material to the right of the other party, but which a court of law cannot compel him to disclose ; by perpetuating, that is, by taking in writing and keeping in its custody, the testimony of witnesses, which is in danger of being lost before the mat ter can be tried ; and by providing for the safety of property in dispute pending litigation. It will also counteract and control fraudulent judgments, by re straining the parties from insisting upon them.