EQUITY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Equity

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/ˈɛkwəti/ Listen

noun

Equity n. (pl. equities)

1.

Equality of rights; natural justice or right; the giving, or desiring to give, to each man his due, according to reason, and the law of God to man; fairness in determination of conflicting claims; impartiality. "Christianity secures both the private interests of men and the public peace, enforcing all justice and equity."

2.

(Law) An equitable claim; an equity of redemption; as, an equity to a settlement, or wife's equity, etc. "I consider the wife's equity to be too well settled to be shaken."

3.

(Law) A system of jurisprudence, supplemental to law, properly so called, and complemental of it. "Equity had been gradually shaping itself into a refined science which no human faculties could master without long and intense application." Note: Equitable jurisprudence in England and in the United States grew up from the inadequacy of common-law forms to secure justice in all cases; and this led to distinct courts by which equity was applied in the way of injunctions, bills of discovery, bills for specified performance, and other processes by which the merits of a case could be reached more summarily or more effectively than by common-law suits. By the recent English Judicature Act (1873), however, the English judges are bound to give effect, in common-law suits, to all equitable rights and remedies; and when the rules of equity and of common law, in any particular case, conflict, the rules of equity are to prevail. In many jurisdictions in the United States, equity and common law are thus blended; in others distinct equity tribunals are still maintained. See Chancery.

Equity of redemption (Law), the advantage, allowed to a mortgageor, of a certain or reasonable time to redeem lands mortgaged, after they have been forfeited at law by the nonpayment of the sum of money due on the mortgage at the appointed time.

Synonyms: Right; justice; impartiality; rectitude; fairness; honesty; uprightness. See Justice.

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Etymology of 'Equity'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Equity" Quotes from Famous Books

... had rested either hand upon a stalwart shoulder, bending down to him till her hair brushed his. Yes, this man was peculiarly dear to her: she could not bear to have him murdered when in equity he deserved only to have his jaws boxed for his toplofty nonsense about her; and, after all, she did not much mind humoring him in ...

— The Line of Love - Dizain des Mariages • James Branch Cabell

... Your Petitioners (in behalf of the aforesaid distress'd people) most humbly Supplicate your Majesty in your great & known Equity & Compassion to Interpose Your Majesty's Good Offices upon this Occasion with the Queen of Hungary in order to prevail upon her said Majesty to revoke the said Edict or at least to Suspend the time of the Expulsion of their said Brethren & to establish ...

— Notes on the Diplomatic History of the Jewish Question • Lucien Wolf

... shipwreck of the year 1720, and the labours of thirty years were blasted in a single day. Of the use or abuse of the South-Sea scheme, of the guilt or innocence of my grandfather and his brother directors, I am neither a competent nor a disinterested judge. Yet the equity of modern times must condemn the violent and arbitrary proceedings, which would have disgraced the cause of justice, and rendered injustice still more odious. No sooner had the nation awakened from its golden dream, ...

— Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds • Charles Mackay

... caused. In addition, they shall make good any losses caused by them to the said Indians, and shall pay all costs. The aforesaid persons are likewise ordered to make the collections with all possible gentleness and equity, observing the other instructions of his Majesty concerning the manner of collecting tributes. The Indians shall pay in kind, or in such articles as they prefer to give. I also order that an authorized copy of this my decree be furnished ...

— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume VIII (of 55), 1591-1593 • Emma Helen Blair

... was not hungry. He shared his lunch with her with a boy's rigid equity, even to the half of a hard-boiled egg and the half ...

— The Valley of the Moon • Jack London

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