270
White, J., dissenting
Even accepting, however, that "equitable" relief is to be distinguished from "legal" relief under the statute, the majority is wrong in supposing that the former concept swallows the latter if § 502(a)(3)'s reference to "appropriate equitable relief" is understood to encompass those remedies that were traditionally available in the equity courts for breach of trust. The fact of the matter is that not all forms of relief were available in the common-law courts of equity for a breach of trust. Although the equity courts could award monetary relief to make the victim of a breach of trust whole, extracompensatory forms of relief, such as punitive damages, were not available. As this Court has long recognized, courts of equity would not—absent some express statutory authorization—enforce penalties or award punitive damages. See Tull v. United States, 481 U. S. 412, 422, and n. 7 (1987); Stevens v. Gladding, 17 How. 447, 454-455 (1855); Livingston v. Woodworth, 15 How. 546, 559-560 (1854); see also 2 J. Sutherland, Law of Damages § 392, p. 1089 (3d ed. 1903); W. Hale, Law of Damages 319 (2d ed. 1912); 1 T. Sedgwick, Measure of Damages § 371, p. 531 (8th ed. 1891). As Justice Kennedy has observed, this limitation on equitable relief applied in the trust context as well, where plaintiffs could recover compensatory monetary relief for a breach of trust, but not punitive or exemplary damages. See Teamsters v. Terry, 494 U. S. 558, 587 (1990) (dissenting opinion).5
5 Justice Kennedy's observation is well grounded in legal history. In crafting a remedy for a breach of trust the exclusive aim of the common-law equity courts was to make the victim whole, "endeavor[ing] as far as possible to replace the parties in the same situation as they would have been in, if no breach of trust had been committed." J. Hill, Trustees *522; see also Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 205 (1959). Historically, punitive damages were unavailable in any equitable action on the theory that "the Court of Chancery as the Equity Court is a court of conscience and will permit only what is just and right with no element of vengeance." Beals v. Washington International, Inc., 386 A. 2d 1156, 1159 (Del. Ch. 1978); accord, Williamson v. Chicago Mill & Lumber Corp., 59 F. 2d 918, 922 (CA8 1932); Stolz v. Franklin, 258 Ark. 999, 1008, 531 S. W. 2d 1, 7
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