Equity and the Constitution
The Supreme Court, Equitable Relief, and Public Policy
198 pages
|
© 1982
Since the landmark desegregation decisions in the Brown vs. Board of Education cases, the proper role of the federal judiciary has been hotly debated. Has the federal judiciary, in its attempt to legislate social policy, overstepped its constitutional boundaries?
In this volume, Gary McDowell considers the equity power created by Article III of the Constitution, on which the most controversial decisions of the Supreme Court have rested. He points out the equity was originally understood as an extraordinary means of offering relief to individuals in cases of fraud, accident, mistake, or trust and as a means of "confining the operation of unjust and partial laws." It has now been stretched to offer relief to broadly defined social classes. This "sociological" understanding, in McDowell's view, has undermined equity as a substantive body of law. He urges a return to the former definition as a means of restraining the reach of federal jurisdiction.
In this volume, Gary McDowell considers the equity power created by Article III of the Constitution, on which the most controversial decisions of the Supreme Court have rested. He points out the equity was originally understood as an extraordinary means of offering relief to individuals in cases of fraud, accident, mistake, or trust and as a means of "confining the operation of unjust and partial laws." It has now been stretched to offer relief to broadly defined social classes. This "sociological" understanding, in McDowell's view, has undermined equity as a substantive body of law. He urges a return to the former definition as a means of restraining the reach of federal jurisdiction.
Contents
Foreword, by Henry J. Abraham
Preface
Introduction: From Equitable Relief to Public Policy
1. The Foundations of American Equity: Antecedents
1. The Jurisprudential Foundations of American Equity
2. The Constitution and the American Idea of Equity
2. The Transformation of American Equity: 1792-1954
3. The Constitution and the Common Law in the Early Republic
4. Joseph Story's "Science" of Equity
5. Procedure over Substance: The Codification Movement and the Transformation of American Equity
3. The Constitution and the New Equity
6. The Emergence of Sociological Equity: The School Desegregation Cases
7. The Descendants of Brown: The Perpetuation of a Bad Idea
Epilogue: Toward a Recovery of the Past
Notes
List of Cases
Bibliography
Index
Preface
Introduction: From Equitable Relief to Public Policy
1. The Foundations of American Equity: Antecedents
1. The Jurisprudential Foundations of American Equity
2. The Constitution and the American Idea of Equity
2. The Transformation of American Equity: 1792-1954
3. The Constitution and the Common Law in the Early Republic
4. Joseph Story's "Science" of Equity
5. Procedure over Substance: The Codification Movement and the Transformation of American Equity
3. The Constitution and the New Equity
6. The Emergence of Sociological Equity: The School Desegregation Cases
7. The Descendants of Brown: The Perpetuation of a Bad Idea
Epilogue: Toward a Recovery of the Past
Notes
List of Cases
Bibliography
Index
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Law and Legal Studies: The Constitution and the Courts
Political Science: Judicial Politics
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