Equitable remedies

• Equitable remedies (Discretionary)

  Awarded where justice would not be served by an award of damages
• Specific performance

  An order compelling one side of the contract to perform their obligations. It is rarely granted as there are various restrictions:

  • Damages must be inadequate (Beswick v Beswick)
  • It must not cause any hardship to the defendant (Patel v Ali)
  • The contract must have been made fairly (Walters v Morgan)
• Contracts unsuitable for specific performance

  1. Personal service contracts
  2. Contracts involving continuous duties
  3. Contracts with vague performance terms
• Injunctions

  • Prohibitory
  • Mandatory
• Injunctions

  Prohibitory = An injunction will not usually instruct the defendant not to breach a term of the contract (a prohibitory injunction)

  Breach of an injunction may lead to further sanctions. Injunctions can be permanent or can be temporary (AB v CD)
• Injunctions

  Mandatory = This requires a party to the contract to do something to restore the position to that which existed before the defendant's breach
• Evaluation - Formation + Terms
• When an injunction will not be granted

  1. Contracts for personal service
  2. Defendant would lose a lot more than the claimant would gain
• Contracts for personal service

  Courts won't use injunctions to enforce personal service contracts like employment
• Defendant would lose a lot more than the claimant would gain

  An injunction may still be granted if the defendant knowingly breached the contract