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223

|220| Through the splintering of these actions into ever more isolated actions, and their rights, which contain within themselves no limit, legal procedure — already, in itself, a means — comes to stand as something external over against its own purpose. — Since the parties have the right to go through such a lengthy formalism, which is their right, and since this right can equally be turned into an evil, and even an instrument of injustice, it becomes a duty imposed on them by the court — in order to protect the parties and right itself, as the substantial matter that is at stake, against legal procedure and its abuse — to submit themselves to a simple tribunal (an arbitration or conciliation court) and to an attempt at settlement, before they proceed to that formal procedure.

Equity contains an infringement upon formal right, made on moral or other grounds, and relates, in the first instance, to the content of the legal dispute. A court of equity, however, will have the significance of deciding on the individual case without holding to the formalities of legal procedure, and, in particular, to the objective means of proof as they can be legally framed, and of deciding according to the particular interest of the individual case as this case, not in the interest of a legal disposition to be made universal.

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One response to “223”

  1. Hegel (Simple) Avatar
    Hegel (Simple)

    § 223: When the procedure gets out of hand

    The procedure breaks up into more and more single steps. Each step is a right. And nothing sets a limit to this.

    What happens then?

    The procedure should only be a means. Now it turns into something external that stands in the way of its purpose. A lawsuit drags on for years. A clever person uses every deadline and every objection. In this way, the procedure itself can become a tool of wrong.

    What helps?

    The court can oblige the parties to turn first to a simple court. For example, to an arbitrator or a conciliation court. There they should try to reach a settlement. Only after that do they go on to the big procedure. In this way, we protect the parties and right itself.

    And equity?

    Equity means: You depart from strict right for moral or other reasons. A court of equity decides only about the single case. It does not keep to the forms of the procedure and to the fixed means of proof. It decides in the interest of this case, not in the interest of a universal rule.

    Summary: The procedure can get out of hand and serve wrong. So a simple court should first try for a settlement. A court of equity decides only for the single case.

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