Common Law Pleading Modified Versus The Federal Rules: IV. Pleading Legal and Equitable Rights-Union of Law and Equity

The preceding parts of this paper have dealt with West Virginia rules which may unnecessarily delay or defeat a hearing on the merits of claims between parties to litigation, but the rules there discussed pertained to actions on one side of the court. Primarily the application of those rules on the law side or to actions at law has been treated, for it is there that the existing procedure is most restrictive. This part of the paper will also deal with limitations on the assertion of rights between the parties, but here will be discussed only those restrictions which resulted from the historical accident that established two systems of courts when one might have been sufficient. The text which follows demonstrates that all rights of the parties may be as adequately protected in one as in two systems.