The Death of the Irreparable Injury Rule

by Douglas Laycock

The irreparable injury rule says that courts will not grant an equitable remedy to prevent harm if it would be adequate to let the harm happen and grant the legal remedy of money damages. After surveying more than 1400 cases, Laycock concludes that this ancient rule is dead--that it almost never affects the results of cases. When a court denies equitable relief, its real reasons are derived from the interests of defendants or the legal system, and not from the adequacy of the plaintiff's legal remedy. Laycock seeks to complete the assimilation of equity, showing that the law-equity distinction survives only as a proxy for other, more functional distinctions. Analyzing the real rules for choosing remedies in terms of these functional distinctions, he clarifies the entire law of remedies, from grand theory down to the practical details of specific cases. He shows that there is no positive law support for the most important applications of the legal-economic theory of efficient breach of contract. Included are extensive notes and a detailed table of cases arranged by jurisdiction.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195063562
• ISBN13: 9780195063561
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 382 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

An Unbelievably Great Book for Lawyers

Professor Laycock was a professor of mine, and he is one of the most brilliant academics I ever studied under (and one of the most objective). That the prior reviewer found a political agenda to this book is mindblowing. This book discusses and catalogues some 2000 cases on the irreparable injury rule andm in truth, is a pretty dry read. But it is fascinating from an academic perspective. Professor Laycock is simply explaining that the irreparable injury rule, which arose centuries ago due to the different jurisdictions of law courts and equity courts in England, no longer has any necessary applicability since the merger of law and equity in this country in (I think) approx. 1928. The book demonstrates that the rule is applied when there are separate policy justifications for its application, and it is not applied (and some exception is always found) when there is no separate policy justification for its application. It has been ages since I read this book whole, but I still use it in day to day practice to find cases whenever I have a case involving the irreperable injury rule. It never fails me.