In Lopez v. Swyer, 62 N.J. 267, 300 A.2d 563 (1973), the Court again discussed the "discovery rule," noting that decisions following Fernandi had "gone much further and have acknowledged the relevance of the doctrine whenever equity and justice have seemed to call for its application." Id. at 273, 300 A.2d 563. The discovery rule, said the Lopez Court, is "essentially a rule of equity": Like so many other equitable doctrines it has appeared and is developing as a means of mitigating the often harsh and unjust results which flow from a rigid and automatic adherence to a strict rule of law. On the face of it, it seems inequitable that an injured person, unaware that he has a cause of action, should be denied his day in court solely because of his ignorance, if he is otherwise blameless. Yet such is the result that must follow if the years of the statute are to be inexorably calculated from the moment of the wrong, whether or not the party aggrieved knows or has reason to know that he has a right of redress. Lopez, supra, 62 N.J. at 273-74, 300 A.2d 563.