Part 3892

<hw>Eq"ui*tes</hw> <tt>(?)</tt> <tt>n. pl</tt> <ety>[L., pl. of <ets>eques</ets> a horseman.]</ety> <fld>(Rom. Antiq.)</fld> <def>An order of knights holding a middle place between the senate and the commonalty; members of the Roman equestrian order.</def>

<h1>Equity</h1> <Xpage=504>

<hw>Eq"ui*ty</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt>; <plu>pl. <plw>Equities</plw> <tt>(#)</tt></plu>. <ety>[F. <ets>\'82quit\'82</ets>, L. <ets>aequitas</ets>, fr. <ets>aequus</ets> even, equal. See <er>Equal</er>.]</ety>

<p><b>1.</b> <def>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.</def>

<blockquote>Christianity secures both the private interests of men and the public peace, enforcing all justice and <b>equity</b>. <i>Tillotson.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <fld>(Law)</fld> <def>An equitable claim; an equity of redemption; <as>as, an <ex>equity</ex> to a settlement, or wife's <ex>equity</ex>, etc.</as></def>

<blockquote>I consider the wife's <b>equity</b> to be too well settled to be shaken. <i>Kent.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>3.</b> <fld>(Law)</fld> <def>A system of jurisprudence, supplemental to law, properly so called, and complemental of it.</def>

<blockquote><b>Equity</b> had been gradually shaping itself into a refined science which no human faculties could master without long and intense application. <i>Macaulay.</i></blockquote>

<note>&hand; 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 <er>Chancery</er>.</note>

<cs><col>Equity of redemption</col> <fld>(Law)</fld>, <cd>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.</cd></cs>

<i>Blackstone.</i>

<syn>Syn. -- Right; justice; impartiality; rectitude; fairness; honesty; uprightness. See <er>Justice</er>.</syn>

<h1>Equivalence</h1> <Xpage=504>

<hw>E*quiv"a*lence</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[Cf. F. <ets>\'82quivalence</ets>, LL. <ets>aequivalentia</ets>.]</ety>

<p><b>1.</b> <def>The condition of being equivalent or equal; equality of worth, value, signification, or force; <as>as, an <ex>equivalence</ex> of definitions</as>.</def>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>Equal power or force; equivalent amount.</def>

<p><b>3.</b> <fld>(Chem.)</fld> <sd>(a)</sd> <def>The quantity of the combining power of an atom, expressed in hydrogen units; the number of hydrogen atoms can combine with, or be exchanged for; valency. See <er>Valence</er>.</def> <sd>(b)</sd> <def>The degree of combining power as determined by relative weight. See <er>Equivalent</er>, <tt>n.</tt>, 2.</def> <mark>[R.]</mark>

<h1>Equivalence</h1> <Xpage=504>

<hw>E*quiv"a*lence</hw>, <tt>v. t.</tt> <def>To be equivalent or equal to; to counterbalance.</def> <mark>[R.]</mark>

<i>Sir T. Browne.</i>

<h1>Equivalency</h1> <Xpage=504>

<hw>E*quiv"a*len*cy</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <def>Same as <er>Equivalence</er>.</def>

<h1>Equivalent</h1> <Xpage=504>

<hw>E*quiv"a*lent</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <ety>[L. <ets>aequivalens</ets>, <ets>-entis</ets>, p. pr. of <ets>aequivalere</ets> to have equal power; <ets>aequus</ets> equal + <ets>valere</ets> to be strong, be worth: cf. F. <ets>\'82quivalent</ets>. See <er>Equal</er>, and <er>Valiant</er>.]</ety>

<p><b>1.</b> <def>Equal in wortir or value, force, power, effect, import, and the like; alike in significance and value; of the same import or meaning.</def>

<blockquote>For now to serve and to minister, servile and ministerial, are terms <b>equivalent</b>. <i>South.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <fld>(Geom.)</fld> <def>Equal in measure but not admitting of superposition; -- applied to magnitudes; <as>as, a square may be <ex>equivalent</ex> to a triangle</as>.</def>