FE-1 Equity 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: 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?
- Contracts for the sale of unique land
- Contracts for personal services requiring individual skill (Correct answer)
- Contracts for the sale of rare chattels
- Contracts for the grant of a long lease
Correct 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.
Question 2: 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?
- Whether the plaintiff will definitely succeed at trial
- Whether there is a serious issue to be tried (Correct answer)
- Whether the defendant acted in bad faith
- Whether damages have already accrued
Correct 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.
Question 3: A Mareva injunction (freezing order) is an equitable remedy primarily designed to achieve which purpose?
- Compelling delivery of confidential documents before trial
- Freezing a defendant's assets to prevent dissipation before judgment can be enforced (Correct answer)
- Restraining a defendant from leaving the jurisdiction permanently
- Ordering the defendant to provide security for costs
Correct 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.
Question 4: On what grounds is the equitable remedy of rescission typically available in Irish law?
- Frustration of contract only
- Misrepresentation, operative mistake, undue influence, or duress (Correct answer)
- Breach of a contractual condition only
- Inadequacy of consideration alone
Correct 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.
Question 5: The equitable doctrine of rectification allows a court to correct a written instrument in which of the following circumstances?
- Where one party has made a unilateral mistake about the contract's legal effect
- Where the written document fails to accurately record the parties' actual prior common agreement due to a mistake in drafting (Correct answer)
- Where performance has become more onerous than anticipated
- Where the contract is void for illegality
Correct 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.
Question 6: The equitable remedy of 'account of profits' requires a defendant to do which of the following?
- Pay compensatory damages assessed at market value
- Disgorge all profits made through their wrongful act regardless of the plaintiff's actual loss (Correct answer)
- Deliver up all documents relating to the breach
- Pay punitive damages as a deterrent
Correct 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.
Question 7: An Anton Piller order (search order) in Irish equity proceedings primarily authorises which action?
- Freezing the defendant's bank accounts worldwide
- Entry onto the defendant's premises to search for and preserve evidence that might otherwise be destroyed (Correct answer)
- Appointment of a receiver over the defendant's business
- Mandatory disclosure of the defendant's financial position
Correct 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.
FE-1 Equity 2
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?