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1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)
equity
    n 1: the difference between the market value of a property and
         the claims held against it
    2: the ownership interest of shareholders in a corporation
    3: conformity with rules or standards; "the judge recognized the
       fairness of my claim" [syn: fairness, equity] [ant:
       inequity, unfairness]

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Equity \Eq"ui*ty\, n.; pl. Equities. [F. ['e]quit['e], L.
   aequitas, fr. aequus even, equal. See Equal.]
   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.
      [1913 Webster]

            Christianity secures both the private interests of
            men and the public peace, enforcing all justice and
            equity.                               --Tillotson.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Law) An equitable claim; an equity of redemption; as, an
      equity to a settlement, or wife's equity, etc.
      [1913 Webster]

            I consider the wife's equity to be too well settled
            to be shaken.                         --Kent.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Law) A system of jurisprudence, supplemental to law,
      properly so called, and complemental of it.
      [1913 Webster]

            Equity had been gradually shaping itself into a
            refined science which no human faculties could
            master without long and intense application.
                                                  --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
         [1913 Webster]

   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.

   Syn: Right; justice; impartiality; rectitude; fairness;
        honesty; uprightness. See Justice.
        [1913 Webster]

3. Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
EQUITY. In the early history of the law, the sense affixed to this word was 
exceedingly vague and uncertain. This was owing, in part, to the fact, that 
the chancellors of those days were either statesmen or ecclesiastics, 
perhaps not very scrupulous in the exercise of power. It was then asserted 
that equity was bounded by no certain limits or rules, and that it was alone 
controlled by conscience and natural justice. 3 Bl. Com. 43-3, 440, 441. 
     2. In a moral sense, that is called equity which is founded, ex oequo 
et bono, in natural justice, in honesty, and in right. In an enlarged. legal 
view, "equity, in its true and genuine meaning, is the soul and spirit of 
the law; positive law is construed, and rational law is made by it. In this, 
equity is made synonymous with justice; in that, to the true and sound 
interpretation of the rule." 3 Bl. Com. 429. This equity is justly said to 
be a supplement to the laws; but it must be directed by science. The Roman 
law will furnish him with sure guides, and safe rules. In that code will be 
found, fully developed, the first principles and the most important 
consequences of natural right. "From the moment when principles of decision 
came to be acted upon in chancery," says Mr. Justice Story, "the Roman law 
furnished abundant materials to erect a superstructure, at once solid, 
convenient and lofty, adapted to human wants, and enriched by the aid of 
human wisdom, experience and learning." Com. on Eq. Jur. Sec. 23 Digest, 54. 
     3. But equity has a more restrained and qualified meaning. The remedies 
for the redress of wrongs, and for the enforcement of rights, are 
distinguished into two classes, first, those which are administered in 
courts of common law; and, secondly, those which are administered in courts 
of equity. Rights which are recognized and protected, and wrongs which are 
redressed by the former courts, are called legal rights and legal injuries. 
Rights which are recognized and protected, and wrongs which are redressed by 
the latter courts only, are called equitable rights and equitable injuries 
The former are said to be rights and wrongs at common law, and the remedies, 
therefore, are remedies at common law; the latter are said to be rights and 
wrongs in equity, and the remedies, therefore, are remedies in equity. 
Equity jurisprudence may, therefore, properly be said to be that portion of 
remedial justice which is exclusively administered by a court of equity, as 
contradistinguished from that remedial justice, which is exclusively 
administered by a court of law. Story, Eq. Sec. 25. Vide Chancery, and the 
authorities there cited; and 3 Chit. Bl. Com. 425 n. 1. Dane's Ab. h.t.; 
Ayl. Pand. 37; Fonbl. Eq. b. 1, c. 1; Wooddes. Lect. 114 Bouv. Inst. Index, 
h.t. 



4. Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
EQUITY, COURT OF. A court of equity is one which administers justice, where 
there are no legal rights, or legal rights, but courts of law do not afford 
a complete, remedy, and where the complainant has also an equitable right. 
Vide Chancery. 



Thesaurus Results for Equity:

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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