Keywords
Nova Scotia, Chancery Amendment Act, Lord Cairns' Act, injunction, courts of equity, common law, equitable damages
Abstract
Section 2 of the Chancery Amendment Act 1858 (Lord Cairns' Act) conferred jurisdiction upon the Court of Chancery to award damages, in certain instances, either in addition to or in substitution for an injunction or specific performance. Lord Cairns'Act was based upon the report of the Chancery Commissioners who recommended that courts of equity should be empowered to award damages in a suit for an injunction, or for the specific performance of a contract. It may have been thought that the raison d'tre of Lord Cairns' Act would have ceased upon the commencement of the Judicature Act 1873. However, Lord Cairns'Act did not merely enable the Court of Chancery to award those damages which could be awarded by a common law court. This issue was finally settled by the decision of the House of Lords in Leeds Industrial Cooperative Society v. Slack.
Recommended Citation
Peter M. McDermott, "Equitable Damages in Nova Scotia" (1989) 12:1 Dal LJ 131.
