Book Review: Principles of Equity and Trusts (4th Ed)

When discussing equity textbooks in his article “Early Equity Reports and 21st Century Australia”, Mr Justice P W Young stated:

“…the classic works give us the principles of equity without the gloss of fact which sometimes obscures principle.”³

It is clear that Dr. Hepburn has aimed to produce a “classic” text, that is, a book that isolates principles of equity from the cases in which they were decided.

When the book was first published in 1997, it was 359 pages in length.  It is testament to the author’s hard work that the book is now in its fourth edition and over 600 pages long.

In Dr. Hepburn’s words, the text “provides students, academics and practitioners alike with an accessible and structured framework for each topic, including a detailed analysis of a broad range of equitable principles and remedies, case discussion, practical examples and exam plans.”  Seen in that light, it appears that the first-mentioned category of readers is the primary target audience of this book.

As with many texts intended for students, this book has the virtue of being easy to read.  Potentially difficult equitable principles are explained with clarity, consistent with the author’s objective.  The book only refers to the most important cases: this may or may not be a positive attribute depending on the purpose for which the practitioner requires a text on equity and trusts.

Unfortunately, it is not edited with the greatest of care.  There are a number of instances where a judge has been given an incorrect name⁴, title⁵ or gender⁶.  Some passages seem a little rushed.  For example, the following appears at page 407:

“His honour concluded:

[The relevant passage from the case]

See also the discussion by Rix LJ in Barbados Trust Co Ltd v. Bank of Zambia”

That being said, the book is useful in that it provides a ready reference for principles of equity and trusts (Professor Dal Pont’s text being a notable example of this kind).  Dr. Hepburn has obviously given each chapter topic a great deal of thoughtful consideration.⁷ I expect that practitioners would find this book helpful as a starting point for their enquiries, before moving on to texts with a greater number of case references.

Christopher Crawford

Footnotes

1. A profile of Dr. Hepburn may be found at http://www.deakin.edu.au/buslaw/law/staff/hepburn.php

2. The publisher’s web page for the text may be found at http://www.federationpress.com.au/bookstore/print.asp?isbn=9781862877108

3. (2001) 75 ALJ 615 at 621

4. For example, at page 50, his Honour Justice Gonthier is referred to as “Gothier J”.

5. For example, at page 456, in the context of discussing Bartlett v. Barclays Bank (No 1) [1980] Ch 515, the judge is referred to as “Brightman LJ” and “Brightman J”.

6. For example, at page 117, Elias CJ is referred to as “His Honour”.

7. The chapter titles are, in order: The Nature of Equity, The Origin of the Equity Jurisdiction, The Relationship between Common Law and Equity, Equitable Proprietary Interests, Characterisation of Equitable Proprietary Interests, Equitable Priority Rules, Equitable Assignments, Fiduciary Obligations, The Protection of Confidential Information, Fraud in Equity, Mistake in Equity, Misrepresentation, Undue Influence, Unconscientious Dealings, Estoppel, Penalties, Forfeiture, The Nature of Equitable Remedies, Specific Performance, Injunctions Mareva Orders and Anton Piller Orders, Declarations, Pecuniary Relief in Equity, Tracing, Rescission Rectification Receivers and Equitable Defences, What is a Trust?, A Comparison between Trusts and other Legal Relationships, Creating a Trust: The Certainty Rules, Creating a Trust: Formalities and Consequences of a Failure to Comply with Them, Complete Constitution of Express Trusts, Trusts and Testamentary Dispositions: Secret Trusts and Mutual Wills, Illegal Trusts, Trustee’s Duties, Trustee’s Powers, Trustee and Beneficiary Rights, Variation of Trust, Trusts for Charitable Purposes, Resulting Trusts, Constructive Trusts.