St. Germaine Part Deux

Chapter XVI of St. Germain's dialogues makes an excellent point about equity:Equity is a right wiseness that considereth all the particular circumstances of the deed, which also is tempered with the sweetness of mercy. And such an equity must always be observed in every law of man, and in every general rule thereof: and that knew he well that said thus, Laws covet to be ruled by equity. And the wise man saith, Be not overmuch wise; for the extreme right wiseness is extreme wrong: as who saith, If thou take all the words of the law giveth thee thou shalt sometime do against the law...it is not possible to make any general rifle of the law, but that it shall fail in some cage...Would that this advice were better heeded, even today! The class from which this reading comes focuses on the development of the rule of law in the Anglo-Saxon tradition, which has meant, thus far, a lot of reading of the likes of Coke, More, St. Germain, Fortescue, the Magna Charta, and, as Puff the Magic Dragon might have said, "other fancy stuff." I'm regularly shocked to realize that basic precepts that are ignored in our 2007 discussion of law were being advocated more than 600 years ago. Nothing new under the sun, though from time to time some things get sunburnt and we think we've found something entirely novel. Or at least I do. Get sunburnt. And find old things that I--...never mind.

Regardless, I'd bet you Gene Healy would have a thing or two to say about equity and the law.