Div 2Law and equity

Division 2—Law and equity 20—Concurrent administration of law and equity In every civil cause or matter commenced in the court, law and equity shall be administered by the court according to the provisions of the seven sections of this Act next following. 21—Equities of plaintiff If a plaintiff claims to be entitled to any equitable estate or right, or to relief upon any equitable ground against any deed, instrument, or contract, or against any right, title, or claim whatsoever, asserted by any defendant or respondent in the cause or matter, or to any relief founded upon a legal right which formerly could only have been given by the court in its equitable jurisdiction, the court shall give to the plaintiff the same relief as ought formerly to have been given by the court in its equitable jurisdiction in a suit or proceeding properly instituted for the like purpose. 22—Equitable defences If a defendant claims to be entitled to any equitable estate or right, or to relief upon any equitable ground against any deed, instrument, or contract, or against any right, title, or claim asserted by any plaintiff in the cause or matter, or alleges any ground of equitable defence to any such claim of the plaintiff, the court shall give to every equitable estate, right, or ground of relief so claimed, and to every equitable defence so alleged the same effect by way of defence against the claim of the plaintiff as the court in its equitable jurisdiction ought formerly to have given if the same or the like matters had been relied on by way of defence in a suit or proceeding instituted in that court for the like purpose. 23—Counter-claims and third parties (1) The court shall have power to grant to any defendant, in respect of any equitable estate or right, or other matter of equity, and also in respect of any legal estate, right, or title claimed or asserted by him— (a) all such relief against any plaintiff as the defendant has properly claimed by his pleading, and as the court or judge might have granted in any suit instituted for that purpose by the same defendant against the same plaintiff; and (b) all such relief relating to or connected with the original subject of the cause or matter, and in like manner claimed against any other person, whether already a party to the same cause or matter or not, who has been duly served with notice in writing of such claim, pursuant to any rules of court, as might properly have been granted against that person if he had been made a defendant to a cause duly instituted by the same defendant for the like purpose. (2) Every person served with any such notice shall thenceforth be deemed a party to the cause or matter with the same rights in respect of his defence against the claim, as if he had been duly sued in the ordinary way by the defendant. 24—Equities appearing incidentally The court shall recognise and take notice of all equitable estates, titles, and rights, and all equitable duties and liabilities appearing incidentally in the course of any cause or matter pending before it, in the same manner in which the said court in its equitable jurisdiction would formerly have recognised and taken notice of the same in any suit or proceeding duly instituted therein. 25—Defence instead of injunction or prohibition No cause or proceeding at any time pending in the court shall be restrained by prohibition or injunction, but every matter of equity on which an unconditional injunction against the prosecution of any such cause or proceeding might formerly have been obtained, may be relied on by way of defence thereto: Provided that— (a) nothing in this Act shall disable the court, if it thinks fit, from directing a stay of proceedings in any cause or matter pending before it; and (b) any person, whether a party or not to any such cause or matter, who would formerly have been entitled to apply to the court, in any of its jurisdictions, to restrain the prosecution thereof, or who may be entitled to enforce, by attachment or otherwise, any judgment, decree, rule, or order, in contravention of which all or any part of the proceedings in such cause or matter may have been taken, shall be at liberty to apply to the court, in a summary way, for a stay of proceedings in the cause or matter, either generally or so far as may be necessary for the purposes of justice, and the court shall thereupon make such order as is just. 26—Common law and statutory rights and duties Subject to the provisions of this Act for giving effect to equitable rights and other matters of equity, the court shall recognise and give effect to all legal claims and demands, and all estates, titles, rights, duties, obligations, and liabilities, existing by the common law, or by any custom, or created by any statute, in the same manner as those matters would formerly have been recognised and given effect to by the court in any branch of its jurisdiction. 27—Court to do complete justice in cause so as to avoid multiplicity of suits The court in every cause or matter pending before it shall have power to grant, and shall grant, either absolutely or on such reasonable terms and conditions as it deems just, all such remedies whatsoever as any of the parties thereto may appear to be entitled to in respect of every legal or equitable claim properly brought forward by them respectively, in such cause or matter, so that, as far as possible, all matters so in controversy between the parties may be completely and finally determined, and all multiplicity of legal proceedings concerning any of such matters avoided. 28—Rules of equity to prevail where in conflict with common law Subject to the express provisions of any other Act, in questions relating to the custody and education of infants, and generally in all matters not particularly mentioned in this Act in which there was formerly any conflict or variance between the rules of equity and the rules of common law with reference to the same matter, the rules of equity shall prevail in all the courts of the State, so far as the matters to which those rules relate, are cognizable by those courts.