Account of profits
A gains-based equitable remedy requiring a fiduciary or other accountable wrongdoer to disgorge profit causally connected to the breach.
A-Z GLOSSARY
Equity Law Glossary of Terms
Concise course definitions with blue links to the relevant teaching section and, where appropriate, the controlling judgment, legislation or authoritative source.
Administrative fusion
The post-Judicature arrangement under which one court system administers common law and equity. It does not itself erase every substantive distinction.
Auxiliary jurisdiction
Equity acting in aid of a legal right, historically by remedies such as injunction, specific performance or discovery where legal relief/process was inadequate.
Beneficial interest
An equitable interest enjoyed by a beneficiary while legal title is held by a trustee or other legal owner.
Chancery
The historical English equitable jurisdiction administered by the Lord Chancellor, from which many modern equitable doctrines and remedies developed.
Concurrent jurisdiction
A field in which law and equity may each respond, often with different doctrines or remedies.
Constructive trust
A trust imposed by operation of equity rather than by an express declaration; its availability depends on the specific doctrine and remedial context.
Equitable chose in action
An equitable proprietary right consisting of a right enforceable by action, such as the right to due administration of an unadministered estate.
Equitable compensation
Monetary relief in equity designed to repair loss caused by breach of an equitable obligation; assessment does not necessarily mirror common-law damages.
Equitable interest
A right recognised and enforced in equity. Some equitable interests are proprietary; others are personal or “mere equities”.
Equity acts in personam
The traditional idea that equitable orders operate against the conscience and conduct of the defendant personally, even though equitable rights can also be proprietary.
Exclusive jurisdiction
Rights and obligations historically created and administered exclusively in equity, including trusts and fiduciary obligations.
Fiduciary
A person subject to obligations of loyalty because they have undertaken to act for or on behalf of another in a defined matter.
Fiduciary undertaking
The function or responsibility undertaken for another that defines whether fiduciary obligations arise and how far they extend.
Fixed trust
A trust in which the beneficiaries and their entitlements are fixed rather than left to trustee discretion. A fixed beneficiary ordinarily has an equitable proprietary interest in the trust property.
Fully informed consent
Authorisation by the person/body entitled to consent after disclosure sufficient to understand the material conflict, profit or transaction.
Fusion fallacy
The mistake of assuming that joint administration of law and equity automatically makes the doctrines or remedies of one system available in the other.
Legal title
The title recognised at law. In a trust, legal title is normally held by the trustee while the beneficiary holds equitable rights.
Mere equity
An equitable right to seek relief such as rescission or rectification which may be weaker than a full equitable proprietary interest for priority purposes.
No-conflict rule
A fiduciary must not place themselves in a position where personal interest or another duty conflicts, or may conflict, with the fiduciary duty undertaken.
No-profit rule
A fiduciary must not retain an unauthorised benefit obtained by reason of the fiduciary position or opportunity.
Proprietary interest
A right in or relating to property with consequences for transfer, priority, tracing and insolvency. Ainsworth gives a classic characteristics checklist.
Rescission
Equitable relief that sets aside a voidable transaction and seeks substantial restoration of the parties to their pre-transaction position.
Resulting trust
A trust arising by operation of law in circumstances where equity attributes beneficial ownership back to a contributor/transferor, subject to the governing presumptions and evidence.
Scope of fiduciary duty
The boundary of the function for which loyalty was undertaken. Conduct outside scope may be wrongful in contract or tort without being fiduciary.
Specific performance
A discretionary equitable order compelling performance of a contractual obligation where damages are inadequate and equitable requirements are satisfied.
Tracing
A process for identifying value as it moves from one asset or account into substitutes; tracing supports, but is distinct from, the underlying proprietary claim/remedy.
Trustee
The legal title-holder who administers trust property subject to the trust terms and fiduciary/trustee duties for beneficiaries or trust purposes.
Unadministered estate
A deceased estate before administration is complete. A beneficiary generally has a right to due administration rather than present equitable ownership of each specific estate asset.
Writ system
Historical common-law process under which access to royal courts depended on recognised forms/writs, helping explain why Chancery developed to address gaps and rigidity.