to note, also, that the word "impunity" has a very similar connotation. This is made evident by the interesting discriminations of Lord Chancellor Finch in Skelton v. Skelton,[1] a case decided in 1677:
But this I would by no means allow, that equity should enlarge the restraints of the disabilities introduced by act of parliament; and as to the granting of injunctions to stay waste, I took a distinction where the tenant hath only impunitatem, and where he hath jus in arboribus. If the tenant have only a bare indemnity or exemption from an action (at law), if he committed waste, there it is fit he should be restrained by injunction from committing it.[2]
In the latter part of the preceding discussion, eight conception of the law have been analyzed and compared in some detail, the purpose having been to exhibit not only their intrinsic meaning and scope, but also their relations to one another and the methods by which they are applied, in judicial reasoning, to the solution of concrete problems of litigation. Before concluding this branch of the discussion a general suggestion may be ventured as to the great practical importance of a clear appreciation of the distinctions and discriminations set forth. If a homely metaphor be permitted, these eight conceptions,—rights and duties, privileges and no-rights, powers and liabilities, immunities and disabilities,—seem to be what may be called "the lowest common denominators of the law." Ten fractions (1-3, 2-5, etc.) may, superficially, seem so different from one another as to defy comparison. If, however, they are expressed in terms of their lowest common denominators (5-15, 6-15, etc.), comparison becomes easy, and fundamental similarity may be discovered. The same thing is
- ↑ (1677) 2 Swanst., 170.
- ↑ In Skelton v. Skelton, it will be observed, the word "impunity" and the word "exemption" are used as the opposite of liability to the powers of a plaintiff in an action at law.For similar recent instances, see Vacher & Sons, Limited v. London Society of Compositors (1913), A. C. 107, 118, 125 (per Lord Macnaghten: "Now there is nothing absurd in the notion of an association or body enjoying immunity from actions at law;" per Lord Atkinson: "Conferring on the trustees immunity as absolute," etc.).{{pbr}Compare also Baylies v. Bishop of London (1913), 1 Ch., 127, 139, 140, per Hamilton, L. J.For instances of the apt use of the term "disability" as equivalent to the negation of legal power, see Poury v. Hordern (1900), 1 Ch., 492, 495; Sheridan v. Elden (1862), 24 N. Y., 281, 384.
