Education
The Faculty of Law presents this public lecture by Professor Graham Virgo, 2016 NZ Law Foundation Distinguished Visiting Fellow, 2016 FW Guest Memorial Lecturer. In 1516 Sir Thomas More published 'Utopia', which identifies an attractive vision of law and society. As Lord Chancellor, More helped to develop Equity as a mechanism to secure justice which was not provided through the rigid interpretation of the Common Law. From the start, the equitable jurisdiction was founded on conscience. By tracing the historical development of conscience it is possible to identify the theoretical structure which justifies and explains the equitable jurisdiction and shows how it should develop in the future.