This chapter considers self-help remedies, which involve the plaintiff making good her own rights without the intervention of the judiciary. The focus of this book is on remedies that are awarded pursuant to a judicial order. However, an exclusive consideration of judicial remedies would ignore the fact that most disputes are settled outside the courts and that most parties prefer non-judicial settlements. It may be queried whether self-help remedies are really remedies in the strict sense of the word. They do not involve a court order; instead, the court gives permission to a plaintiff to act in a particular way. Nevertheless, in a broader sense, the plaintiff is allowed to redress her grievance by vindicating her own rights. By allowing a plaintiff to redress her rights in this way, the law affirms and reinforces the importance of certain interests. As noted in Ch 13, Varuhas has observed that the interests protected by vindicatory awards are often associated with the torts actionable per se.

Rescission is available to reverse a variety of transactions where one of the parties is subject to a vitiating factor. There are three different kinds of rescission which will be discussed in this chapter:

1. 1. Common law rescission

2. 2. Equitable rescission

3. 3. ‘Rescission’ under the Australian Consumer Law.

A mediated settlement agreement must be enforceable for its obligations to be binding. Several elements can result in mediated settlements being set aside: the absence of contractual certainty to bind the disputing parties, rescission on account of an unjust factor, undue influence, duress and coercion, unconscionability, incompetence or incapacity, lack of authority, fraud and mistake. The jurisprudence resulting from attempts to evade mediated settlement agreements provides guidance to the mediator and the legal advisors to the parties on the practical steps that can be taken to provide certainty and avoid enforcement problems. Careful and comprehensive drafting incorporating all the intended commercial terms is critical to ensure that mediated settlement agreements are complete and enforceable. Where compliance may be an issue, the settlement can be converted into an arbitral award or a court judgment, or enforced under the Singapore Convention which elevates international mediated settlement agreements to a new status that can be recognised and enforced within the framework of private international law.

Common law remedies did not provide adequate compensation for many claimants and they sought a remedy from the King instead. The King had so many cases to hear that he asked the Lord Chancellor to assist. The Lord Chancellor was a man of the Church and so other remedies which were often fairer were granted. One remedy was specific performance which required the defendant to carry out certain duties. It can only be awarded in certain circumstances and will not be awarded when the claimant does not come to court with 'clean' hands which means the claimant must not have behaved improperly to the defendant. Contracts requiring supervision such as employment contracts will not be specifically enforced. Other types of equitable remedy include injunctions which are orders usually forbidding an act to be done which constitutes an infringement of legal rights. Sometimes an interim injunction may be awarded before the final judgment where certain conditios are satisfied.Other equitable remedies include rectification allowing the parties to rectify a contract that does not reflect the true intentions of the parties and rescission which allows a contract to be set aside.