Justice, Equity and Good-Conscience: Analysis of the Case Law in Pakistan

Abstract

The concepts of equity, justice, and good conscience have guided areas of the legal system not covered by statute law or personal laws since the early East India Company days. For instance, in circumstances where they were not otherwise expressly addressed, judges were to base their rulings on equity, justice, and good conscience, according to the regulations from 1781 and 1793. The idea was replicated from one regulation to another and from one statute to another. According to Derrett, this approach was initially applied by the Royal Charter of August 9, 1683, which considered other legal sources as "just" norms that applied to the case's facts in addition to English law. By the end of the nineteenth century, British Indian Courts preferred to apply English Law as residual law first, then equity, justice, and good conscience.  Courts in Pakistan occasionally use this Common Law formula to fill in the blanks. This paper examines the history of equity in common law and analyse briefly the case law of Pakistan.