Legal remedy

From WIKIPEDIA, the free encyclopedia

Judicial remedies
Legal remedies (Damages)
Compensatory damages
Punitive damages
Incidental damages
Consequential damages
Liquidated damages
Reliance damages
Nominal damages
Statutory damages
Treble damages
Equitable remedies
Specific performance
Account of profits
Constructive trust
Injunction
Restitution
Rescission
Rectification
Declaratory relief
Related issues
Adequate remedy
Election of remedies
Provisional remedy
Tracing
Legal costs
v
t
e
A legal remedy (also judicial relief) is the means with which a court of law, usually in the
exercise of civil law jurisdiction, enforces a right, imposes a penalty, or makes another court
order to impose its will.
In Commonwealth common law jurisdictions and related jurisdictions (e.g. the United States),
the law of remedies distinguishes between a legal remedy (e.g. a specific amount of monetary
damages) and an equitable remedy (e.g. injunctive relief or specific performance). Another type
of remedy is declaratory relief, where a court determines the rights of the parties to an action
without awarding DAMAGES or ordering equitable relief.
In English and American jurisprudence, there is a legal maxim (albeit one sometimes honored in
the breach) that for every right, there is a remedy; where there is no remedy, there is no right.
That is, lawmakers claim to provide appropriate remedies to protect rights. This legal maxim was
first enunciated by William Blackstone: "It is a settled and invariable principle in the laws of
England, that every right when with-held must have a remedy, and every injury its proper
redress."
[1][2]

Contents
1 Types of Remedies in American Law
2 Case-by-case remedies versus announced remedies
3 References
4 Examples of legal remedies
5 Categories of remedies
6 External links
Types of Remedies in American Law

The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of
the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (May 2012)
There are three crucial remedies in the American legal system. One is from the traditional law
courts of England, and is seen in the form of a PAYMENT of MONEY to the victim. This
payment is commonly referred to as damages. Compensatory damages compensate an injured
victim or plaintiff, and punitive damages punish someone who because of fraud or intentional
conduct, is deemed to deserve punishment. Punitive damages serve the function in civil law that
fines do in criminal law.
The second category of remedy comes from the Chancellor of England, commonly called the
Chancery Court, or, MORE commonly, equity. The injunction is a type of equitable remedy,
[3]
as
is SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE, in which someone who enters into a contract is forced to
perform whatever promise has been reneged upon. Two additional equitable remedies are the
equitable lien and the constructive trust.
The third broad group is declaratory remedies. Common examples are the declaratory judgment
and the action to quiet title, and these remedies usually involve a court's determination of how
the law applies to particular facts without any command to the parties.
[4]
Courts give declaratory
remedies about many different kinds of questions, including whether a person has a legal status,
who the owner of a property is, whether a statute has a particular meaning, or what the rights are
under a contract.
[5]

While those are the three basic categories of remedies in American law, there are also a handful
of others (such as reformation and rescission, both dealing with contracts whose terms need to be
rewritten or undone).
Case-by-case remedies versus announced remedies
Remedies can be, and in American law usually are, determined case by case, and take into
account many different facts including the amount of harm caused to the victim. Remedies can
also be determined in advance for an entire class of cases. For example, there can be a fixed fine
for all violations of a legal rule, regardless of how much harm was caused in the particular
case.
[6]

References
1. 1 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 23
2. See also Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 162163 (1803).
3. Douglas Laycock, The Death of the Irreparable Injury Rule (Oxford Univ. Press 1991).
4. Bray, Samuel L. (2010). "Preventive Adjudication". University of Chicago Law Review
77: 1275, 1281.
5. Bray, Samuel L. (2010). "Preventive Adjudication". University of Chicago Law Review
77: 1275, 1281.
6. Bray, Samuel L. (forthcoming 2012). "Announcing Remedies". Cornell Law Review 97.
Examples of legal remedies
Damages, which may include:
o Compensatory damages
o Punitive damages
o Incidental damages
o Liquidated damages
o Nominal damages
Coercive relief
o Specific performance
o Injunctions
o Restitution
o Account of profits
Categories of remedies
Adequate remedy
Civil remedy
Cumulative remedy
Election of remedies
Equity
Equitable remedy
Extraordinary remedy
Joinder of remedies
Provisional remedy
Remedy over
External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Legal remedies
Categories:
Judicial remedies
Navigation menu
Create account
Log in
Article
Talk
Read
Edit
View history
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikimedia Shop
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
Languages
Deutsch

Gaeilge



Lietuvi

Norsk bokml
Polski
Svenska

Edit links
This page was last modified on 19 March 2014 at 23:34.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;
additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy
Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-
profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view