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Law in 101 words

07 October 2010 / Roderick Ramage
Issue: 7436 / Categories: Blogs
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Snippets from The Reduced Law Dictionary by Roderick Ramage

Equity looks on that as done which ought to be done

This maxim applies where something is agreed but had not actually been done. “The doctrine cannot in its application to contracts ... be permitted to turn the conditional into the absolute, the optional into the obligatory, or to make for the parties contracts different from those they have made for themselves. What a party to a contract ought to do, within the true meaning of this doctrine, is what he has contracted to do, and nothing more and nothing less is to be taken in the equity to be done”: De Beers v British South Africa Co [1912] per Lord Atkinson.

Fox hunting and the pensions crisis

I sat in a solicitor’s waiting room before giving a talk on pensions and read the Yorkshire Post. In it were some extracts and commentary on Tony Blair’s memoirs, Journey, which gave me my opening gambit. Pensions don’t count. In one excerpt he admitted that the

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Serious injury teambolstered by high-profile partner hire

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Firm strengthens employment team with partner hire

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

Lawyers’ liability practice strengthened with partner appointment in London

NEWS
Ceri Morgan, knowledge counsel at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP, analyses the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Johnson v FirstRand Bank Ltd, which reshapes the law of fiduciary relationships and common law bribery
The boundaries of media access in family law are scrutinised by Nicholas Dobson in NLJ this week
Reflecting on personal experience, Professor Graham Zellick KC, Senior Master of the Bench and former Reader of the Middle Temple, questions the unchecked power of parliamentary privilege
Geoff Dover, managing director at Heirloom Fair Legal, sets out a blueprint for ethical litigation funding in the wake of high-profile law firm collapses
James Grice, head of innovation and AI at Lawfront, explores how artificial intelligence is transforming the legal sector
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