Explain the Development of Common Law and Equity

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Equity was developed two or three hundred years after the birth of the common law system to resolve disputes where damages were an unsuitable remedy and to introduce fairness into the legal system. The distinction between "law" and "equity" is an accident of history. The law courts or "courts of law" were the courts in England that enforced the king's laws in medieval times. There the King's Judges, educated in law rather than theology, administered the universal law of the realm.[3] This body of law evolved on the basis of previously set precedent into what is recognized as the Common law of England. However, if changes were not quick enough, or if decisions by the judges were regarded as unfair, then litigants could still appeal directly to the King, who, as the sovereign, was seen as the 'fount of justice' and responsible for the just treatment of his subjects. Such filings were usually phrased in terms of throwing oneself upon the king's mercy or conscience. Eventually, the king began to regularly delegate the function of resolving such petitions to the Chancellor, an important member of the King's Council.[3] The early Chancellors were often clergymen, acting as the King's confessor and thereby sacerdotally as keeper of the King's conscience. As a result of their theological and clerical training, Chancellors were well versed in Latin and French, as well as in classical Roman civil and canon law, which heavily influenced the development of equity.[4] Soon the Chancery, the Crown's secretarial department, began to resemble a judicial body and became known as the "Court of Chancery". By the 15th century, the judicial power of Chancery was recognized. Equity, as a body of rules, varied from Chancellor to Chancellor, until the end of the 16th century. After the end of the 17th century, only lawyers were appointed to the office of
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