Editing Equity (law) (section)

=== India ===

In [[India]] the [[common law]] doctrine of equity had traditionally been followed even after it became independent in 1947. However, in 1963 the [[Specific Relief Act 1963|Specific Relief Act]] was passed by the [[Parliament of India]] following the recommendation of the [[Law Commission of India]] and repealing the earlier "Specific Relief Act" of 1877. Under the 1963 Act, most equitable concepts were codified and made statutory rights, thereby ending the discretionary role of the courts to grant equitable reliefs. The rights codified under the 1963 Act were as under:
* Recovery of possession of immovable property (ss.&nbsp;5–8)
* Specific performance of [[contract]]s (ss.&nbsp;9–25)
* Rectification of instruments (s.&nbsp;26)
* Recession of contracts (ss.&nbsp;27–30)
* Cancellation of instruments (ss.&nbsp;31–33)
* Declaratory decrees (ss.&nbsp;34–35)
* [[Injunction]]s (ss.&nbsp;36–42)

With this codification, the nature and tenure of the equitable reliefs available earlier have been modified to make them statutory rights and are also required to be pleaded specifically to be enforced. Further to the extent that these equitable reliefs have been codified into rights, they are no longer discretionary upon the courts or as the English law has it, "Chancellor's foot" but instead are enforceable rights subject to the conditions under the 1963 Act being satisfied. Nonetheless, in the event of situations not covered under the 1963 Act, the courts in India continue to exercise their inherent powers<!--link removed: article as it stands is irrelevant to the Indian context--> in terms of Section 151 of the [[Code of Civil Procedure (India)|Code of Civil Procedure, 1908]], which applies to all [[Civil law (common law)|civil court]]s in <!--wrong: Australia and--> India.

There is no such inherent powers with the criminal courts in India except with the [[High Courts of India|High Courts]] in terms of Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Further, such inherent powers are vested in the [[Supreme Court of India]] in terms of Article 142 of the [[Constitution of India]] which confers wide powers on the Supreme Court to pass orders "as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause of matter pending before it".