Issue
The issue here is to determine what happens to a person when their rights have been contravened. In other words, it is necessary to determine how, when and why judicial relief or legal remedy is offered to those who have been offended.
Rules
Prior to an examination of the various forms of remedies available, it is essential to examine why they exist in the first place. A legal remedy comes from the notion of a legal maxim where the existence of a right necessitates remedy. In other words, the principle relies on assertions made by William Blackstone who asserted that whenever a right has been held then there should be a remedy in place to correct that, or if an injury has occurred then the victim should be duly redressed through the remedy.
It is necessary to understand how the remedy is carried out by the parties concerned. In the United States, legal remedy is offered through three major pathways including monetary compensation to a victim. Here, the offender is obligated to pay damages in the form of either compensatory damage if the issue under consideration is bodily injury or punitive damages when the offending party has taken part in some kind of fraud or any such misconduct. The second method of offering remedies is through equity where the defendant is obligated to right the wrong that he committed against the complainant. Here, the court may issue an injunction or a specific performance where the party to a contract is obligated to complete his end of the bargain or to perform a certain task (specified in the contract) that he had failed to do so in the beginning. This category may also be called coercive remedies where the court will tell a defendant not to behave in a certain manner and reinforce it using contempt where he or she will be arrested if he/ she disobeys this order. Lastly, the justice system in the country offers declaratory relief where the concerned parties are required to abide by a certain declaration made by the court. This may take the form of a divorce or any other decree made by the court.
Application
Once a right has been violated, a person is normally entitled to legal action after completion of the right court procedures. The extent to which the person is relieved or the nature of the remedy will really depend on the kind of issue under consideration and the extent of violation of a right. For example, if a businessman had entered into a contract to be supplied with spare parts for the completion of certain tasks and the supplier sends him substandard parts which ruin the engines of the vehicles under repair then that supplier will be required to pay the businessman restitution so that he can go back to where he would have been being is not for the wrong. In such a scenario, the court is likely to decide on an amount that would deal with the spoilt engines and the cost of repairing the vehicle for the first time. In situations where money does not offer relief to the affected party, then the court will look for equity remedies. For example, a person who has frustrated his end of the contract may not necessarily solve the problem by paying monetary compensation to the plaintiff so much a person needs to be forced to honor his part through an equitable remedy like an injunction.
Conclusion
Parties need to know that before seeking legal redress for their grievances, the court will only put them where they were before they were subjected to the wrong or will try to compensate them monetarily up to the point that they were original. This can either be done through legal or equity.