Abstract
Equity's enforcement of restrictive covenants against successors was a pragmatic response to the delayed development of public planning in the mid 19th century. Yet covenants have persisted as a device for private planning, despite the lack of a coherent doctrinal justification or express provision for them in the original Torrens statutes. They provide a source of private legislative power for developers which is beyond effective control by public or private law. Several Australian jurisdictions allow developers to create, by registration of plans, statutory "restrictions" which are deemed to operate as restrictive covenants. At the same time, many statutes provide for public authorities to regulate through "covenants in gross" which are not recognised by equity. The overextension of the private law restrictive covenant into the realm of public regulation leaves powers inadequately regulated and creates gaps and anomalies in the application of rules.