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Choice of Law for Equitable Doctrines BY T.M. YEO [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Ixv + 361 pp. Hardcover: £85]
Choice of Law for Equitable Doctrines is the latest addition to the impressive Oxford Private International Law Series published by the Oxford University Press. Its publication could not have been more timely given the dearth of material on the subject. Equity and private international law have always been regarded as difficult subjects separately and they appear even more daunting together. That perhaps explains the lack of writing on this subject.
Dr. Yeo's monograph can roughly be divided into three parts. First, and it is perhaps unfortunate that such a discussion is even required, the book addresses the issue of whether a choice of law analysis is even relevant when a litigant invokes an equitable doctrine. The bulk of the discussion is set out in "Chapter 1: Relevance of Choice of Law Analysis for Equitable Doctrines," although "Chapter 4: Substance and Procedure" is also relevant. In explaining the relevance of choice of law to equitable doctrines, Dr. Yeo navigates the reader through a morass of myths about equity that will prove invaluable even to a reader who is merely interested in equity and not its interaction with the choice of law process. For example, the novice lawyer who is not fully acquainted with equity will find the author's explanation of the maxim that "equity acts in personatn" enlightening. Many students and lawyers who are unacquainted with the intricacies and history of the jurisdiction of the Chancery court will be surprised that equitable proprietary responses such as the trust can co-exist with the maxim. However, as the author explains (at para. 1.27), the maxim was never directed at the personal or proprietary nature of an equitable response but rather at the Chancery court's means of enforcing its orders, namely, by punishing the defendant for contempt for non-compliance. Hence, the maxim could co-exist quite happily with an equitable proprietary response, though the author also explains that the maxim is only historically accurate as equity has long since developed means of enforcing equitable decrees beyond the threat of punishment for contempt.
Many other fundamental misconceptions about equity are also helpfully dispelled and a novice will develop a better...