衡平法是如何發揮作用的？

H. Smith指出：

法律的簡單結構容易被投機者利用……傳統上，衡平法關注的是“欺詐邊緣行為”（ “near fraud”），即接近欺詐界限、或很可能構成欺詐但無法被證實為欺詐的行為。

……傳統衡平法的一個重要主題是打擊機會主義行為。為此，衡平法需要超越事前明確的規則（the ex ante bright line rules），因為很難預料到所有規避的途徑。

如果所有規避者都能輕易地鉆過第十個漏洞，那么堵住十個漏洞中的九個也是徒勞的。衡平法采用事后道德標準（ex post moral standards），強調善意和告知，以道德為依據進行推理，其規則常常模糊而非明確。為了限制這種強大的工具，衡平法院只能對人而非對物的方式運用這些規則（in personam and not in rem），而且衡平法的實質原則也告誡人們謹慎以避免削弱法律。衡平法并非旨在根除一切機會主義行為，法院也認識到，除非法院保持警惕并阻止衡平法的不當介入，否則衡平法的原則和救濟措施（尤其是禁令）本身可能會被機會主義的訴訟人利用。

我的簡評：

1.

衡平法的規則主要體現為一種事后規則而非事前的規則。因擔心某些行為包含濫用規則的可能性就一律禁止之，效率是低下的。普通法和衡平法是一體兩面，都采取能行為發生之后再予以補救的事后策略（ex post strategy）。

2.

衡平法是對人（in personam ）發揮作用的。簡言之，是在個案中發揮作用的。

3.

衡平法的規則是抽象的（原文用語是“模糊的”）。需要法官在個案中裁量行使，對法官提出了很高的要求。

附原文：

The simple structures of the law are open to exploitation by opportunists . . . Traditionally equity concerned itself with 'near fraud', which is behaviour that is close to the line of fraud or may well be fraud but cannot be proved as such. .

..A major theme of traditional equity was to counteract opportunism. To do so equity needs to go beyond the ex ante bright line rules, because it is difficult to anticipate all the avenues of evasion.

Plugging nine out of ten loopholes is hopeless if all the evaders can rush through the tenth. Equity employs ex post moral standards, emphasizes good faith and notice, couches its reasoning in terms of morals, and is sometimes vague rather than bright line. To cabin such a powerful tool, equity courts were only supposed to act in personam and not in rem, and the substantive doctrines of equity counselled caution in undermining the law. Equity was not designed to root out every last bit of opportunism and courts recognized that equitable doctrines and remedies, not least injunctions, themselves could be exploited by opportunistic litigants unless courts were on their guard and were willing to stay the hand of equity.

H. Smith, "Property, Equity, and the Rule of Law，in L. Austin and D. Klimchuk (eds), Private Law and the Rule of Law (Oxford University Press, 2014), pp.232-233.

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