AALS Open Source Program

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Session Type: AALS Open Source Programs

Session Capacity: N/A

Hotel: Hilton New Orleans Riverside

Room: Jackson

Floor: Third Floor

Equity has evolved in important ways since its rise in England and acceptance in the United States. The relationship between law and equity changed substantially following their 1937 merger in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. During the Civil Rights Era, equity became an essential tool for enforcing constitutional rights. Because of its roots in the Seventh Amendment and Article III of the Constitution, as well as federal and state courts’ general reliance on equitable principles applied by the English Court of Chancery, equity nevertheless remains much more firmly rooted in the past than most other fields of law. This panel will explore the challenges posed by applying equitable principles and remedies in today's world, ways of adapting equity to the needs of modern society, and the propriety of particularly powerful forms of equitable relief that courts have imposed in some of the most controversial cases facing our nation.