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First published in 1997, this volume investigates the important economic issue of small business finance. The inability of small firms to acquire equity finance is believed to be an important factor in the UK's continued relative economic decline. Throughout the post-war period both Labour and Conservative Governments have recognised this and devised micro-economic policies to address the issue. In this book the author assesses the effectiveness of these policies, particularly focusing upon the past 20 years when policy has been accompanied by the development of the UK venture capital industry.The author concludes that government policy has been largely unsuccessful in bridging the equity gap, but that the problem could be addressed effectively if only lessons were learned from the past. This book provides those lessons, and is particularly timely given that the new Labour Government is currently reviewing policy in this area.

The records of the Courts of Equity, which dealt with cases of fairness rather than law, are among the most detailed, extensive and revealing of all the legal documents historians can consult, yet they are often neglected. Susan Moore's expert introduction to them opens up this fascinating source to researchers who may not be familiar with them and dont know how to take advantage of them. As she traces the purpose, history and organization of the Courts of Equity from around 1500 to 1876, she demonstrates how varied their role was and how valuable their archives are for us today. She covers the Courts of Chancery, Exchequer, Star Chamber, Requests, Palatinates and Duchy of Lancaster in clear detail. Her work shows researchers why their records are worth searching, how to search them and how many jewels of information can be found in them. This introduction will be appreciated by local, social and family historians who are coming to these records for the first time and by those who already know of the records but have found them daunting.

Quite by accident, Roman law and English law share a peculiar dual structure. In both systems, the law (ius civile, Common law) was supported, amended and corrected by a second legal source (ius honorarium, Equity) found in the jurisdiction of particular magistrates. How did this dual structure come into being in Rome and England, and how did it influence legal developments?In Law & Equity: Approaches in Roman law and Common law, seven specialists explore the origins and consequences of this interaction. The history of equity and law is treated by Willem Zwalve, Paul Brand, David Ibbetson and Mike Macnair, while John Cartwright, Hendrik Verhagen, Frits Brandsma and Willem Zwalve offer a comparative legal history on issues of substantive law.

The intersection between law and literature is a developing area in literary studies. Existing work has argued that literature provides an imaginary forum in which legal ideals and practices may be tested. In Literature and Legal Discourse: Equity and Ethics from Sterne to Conrad Dieter Polloczek develops this idea by comparing the notion of equity, or ethics, in fiction with its legal equivalent. He shows how the novel, with its increasing social scope and formal sophistication, provided a means of transmitting, questioning and refining society's traditions, values and modes of self-questioning. Polloczek analyses the links between actual legal fictions like substituted judgements, notions of equity, literary tropes and the construction and representation of social bonds through sentiment, philanthropy and marginalisation. Pollozcek's study is both theoretical and historical, covering a period that extends from the eighteenth century to the modernist period, and texts from Sterne, Dickens, Bentham and Conrad.