From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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.
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2. (Law) An equitable claim; an equity of redemption; as, an
equity to a settlement, or wife's equity, etc.
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I consider the wife's equity to be too well settled
to be shaken. --Kent.
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3. (Law) A system of jurisprudence, supplemental to law,
properly so called, and complemental of it.
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Equity had been gradually shaping itself into a
refined science which no human faculties could
master without long and intense application.
--Macaulay.
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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.
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From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
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]