Equity Flashcards

Specific performance in Irish equity law is typically awarded where damages are inadequate. For which type of contract will a court generally refuse to order specific performance?

Answer: Contracts for personal services requiring individual skill

Courts refuse specific performance for contracts involving personal services because equity will not compel a personal relationship, and supervision of compliance would be impractical.

The test for granting an interlocutory injunction in Ireland, derived from American Cyanamid Co v Ethicon Ltd [1975], first requires the court to determine what?

Answer: Whether there is a serious issue to be tried

Under the American Cyanamid test, the first stage requires the plaintiff to demonstrate that there is a serious question to be tried, not a mere frivolous or vexatious claim.

A Mareva injunction (freezing order) is an equitable remedy primarily designed to achieve which purpose?

Answer: Freezing a defendant's assets to prevent dissipation before judgment can be enforced

A Mareva injunction restrains the defendant from disposing of or dealing with assets so that any judgment the plaintiff obtains remains capable of enforcement.

On what grounds is the equitable remedy of rescission typically available in Irish law?

Answer: Misrepresentation, operative mistake, undue influence, or duress

Rescission restores parties to their pre-contractual position and is available where a contract was induced by misrepresentation, affected by operative mistake, undue influence, or duress, undermining true consent.

The equitable doctrine of rectification allows a court to correct a written instrument in which of the following circumstances?

Answer: Where the written document fails to accurately record the parties' actual prior common agreement due to a mistake in drafting

Rectification corrects a written instrument that does not accurately record the parties' prior common intention due to an error in reducing their agreement to writing.

The equitable remedy of 'account of profits' requires a defendant to do which of the following?

Answer: Disgorge all profits made through their wrongful act regardless of the plaintiff's actual loss

Account of profits is gain-based, requiring the defendant to surrender profits made through their wrong, focusing on the defendant's enrichment rather than the plaintiff's loss.

An Anton Piller order (search order) in Irish equity proceedings primarily authorises which action?

Answer: Entry onto the defendant's premises to search for and preserve evidence that might otherwise be destroyed

An Anton Piller order (now called a search order) permits the plaintiff to enter the defendant's premises without prior warning to inspect and seize relevant documents or articles to prevent their destruction.