The Application of Equitable Doctrines by the Courts in East Africa

Abstract

This article is concerned with the application of the doctrines of equity by the courts in East Africa. “Equity” is used in two main ways in the laws of Commonwealth Africa: firstly, the courts were directed to apply the doctrines of equity;2 secondly, the courts were commonly directed to exclude indigenous laws if they were repugnant to “natural justice, equity and good conscience”.3 Sometimes it is used in a broad sense—“justice, equity and good conscience” is to be applied in resolving cases for which there is no other available rule. This article is concerned with the first meaning, equity in the technical, rather than the general, sense,4 with the circumstances in which the courts have applied the doctrines of equity (although it will be seen that the boundary between technical equity and equity in the sense of natural justice is notas rigid as is sometimes supposed). 5