equity

Definitions

1. 1.(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. Kent.
2. 2.(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. Macaulay. 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. Blackstone. See Justice.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "equity" mean?
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Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is equity.

• What is 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. Kent called?