{"id":3987,"date":"2017-08-06T23:12:08","date_gmt":"2017-08-06T23:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=3987"},"modified":"2018-01-29T20:25:41","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T20:25:41","slug":"equity-contract-law","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=3987","title":{"rendered":"Equity Jurisprudence – the legal science of applying the principles of fairness that supersede otherwise literal translation of common or statutory law"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This page is continued from the Legal Precepts adopted into U.S. law (from Europe) through the Constitution<\/a>:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

**********************************<\/p>\n

equity jurisprudence<\/span>:<\/strong><\/span>
\n(1826)<\/span><\/p>\n

1. The legal science treating the rules, principles, and maxims that govern the decisions of a court of equity<\/a>. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

2. The cases and controversies that are considered proper subjects of equity. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

3. The nature and form of the remedies that equity grants. <\/span><\/strong>[1]<\/span><\/p>\n

1. That portion of our system of jurisprudence traditionally expounded and administered by courts of equity<\/a>.\u00a0 27 Am J2d Eq \u00a7 1<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It remains a distinct part of the system, notwithstanding in many jurisdictions legal and equitable remedies have been commingled in one form of civil action and a court of general jurisdiction may hear both law and equity cases.\u00a0 27 Am J2d Eq \u00a7 4<\/span><\/strong>. <\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

equity<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong>
\nn. (14c)<\/span><\/p>\n

1. A term having a variety of meanings.\u00a0 The mitigating principles, by the application of which substantial justice may be attained in particular cases wherein the prescribed or customary forms of ordinary law seem to be inadequate.\u00a0 A complex system of established law and jurisprudence.\u00a0 The standing of a party to claim relief.\u00a0 An interest in property which a court of equity<\/a> will protect.\u00a0 27 Am J2d Eq \u00a7 1<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See at law and in equity<\/em>; bill in equity<\/em>; decree<\/em>; equity term<\/em>; in equity<\/em>; strong arm of equity<\/em>. [2]<\/span><\/p>\n

1. A system for insuring justice in circumstances where the remedies customarily available under conventional law are inadequate; a system of jurisprudence less formal and more flexible than the common law, available in particular types of cases to better ensure a fair result.\u00a0 Although courts of equity<\/a> and courts of law have been merged, their equity powers are still distinct.<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See equitable action<\/em>; equitable relief<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Short for court of equity<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

3. Fairness; justice; right.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

4. A person’s interest in property after subtracting the amount he owes on the property from its fair market value.\u00a0 USAGE: “I have paid off all but $10,000 of the $100,000 mortgage on my home, which is worth $120,000, so my equity is now $110,000.<\/span>“<\/strong> [3]<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Fairness; impartiality; evenhanded dealing<\/strong> <the company\u2019s policies require managers to use equity in dealing with subordinate employee>.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. The body of principles constituting what is fair and right; natural law<\/strong> <the concept of \u201cinalienable rights\u201d reflects the influence of equity on the Declaration of Independence>. [1]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Excerpt from R.E. Megarry’s\u00a0Snell\u2019s Principles of Equity<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(23d ed. 1947):<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cIn its popular sense it [equity] is practically equivalent to natural justice. But it would be a mistake to suppose that equity, as administered by the Courts, embraces a jurisdiction as wide and extensive as that which would result from carrying into operation all the principles of natural justice.\u00a0 There are many matters of natural justice wholly unprovided for, from the difficulty of framing any general rules to meet them, and from the doubtful wisdom of a policy of attempting to give a legal sanction to duties of imperfect obligation, such as charity, gratitude and kindness.\u00a0 A large proportion of natural justice in its widest sense is thus not judicially enforced, but is left to the conscience of each individual.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [4]<\/span><\/p>\n

3. The recourse to principles of justice to correct or supplement the law as applied to particular circumstances; specifically, the judicial prevention of hardship that would otherwise ensue from the literal interpretation of a legal instrument as applied to an extreme case or from the literal exclusion of a case that seems to fall within what the\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>drafters of the instrument probably intended<\/strong> <the judge decided the case by equity because the statute did not fully address the issue>. \u2014 aka natural equity<\/span><\/strong><\/em>. [1]
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Excerpt from Dennis Lloyd’s\u00a0Introduction to Jurisprudence<\/em><\/a>\u00a0 (rev. ed. 1965):<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201c<\/b><\/span>Lord Evershed, after referring to the old doctrine of this ‘equity\u2019 of a statute, whereby the courts had a certain latitude in stretching it to cover cases not expressly dealt With, makes the interesting suggestion that it might be as well to revive this doctrine and confer on the judiciary the, function of rendering an Act just and workable and of giving effect to sensible solutions, unless the terms of the Act itself precluded this.\u00a0 Such a change would doubtless entail a fundamental reversal of the present form of <\/b><\/span>legislative drafting<\/b><\/span>.\u00a0 Draftsmen and courts are at present engaged in a battle of wits, the draftsman seeking to anticipate its restrictive interpretations of the courts by inserting tie most elaborately detailed provisions to ensure that particular situations are covered, which often has the unfortunate result of excluding from the effect of the statute equally relevant situations which were not actually thought of at the time.<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u201d <\/b><\/span><\/span>[5]<\/span><\/p>\n

4. The system of law or body of principles originating in the English Court of Chancery<\/a> and superseding the common and statute law (together called \u201claw\u201d in the narrower sense) when the two conflict<\/strong> <in appealing to the equity of the court, she was appealing to the \u201cking\u2019s conscience\u201d>; CHANCERY (second definition). [1]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Excerpt from George T. Bispham’s\u00a0The Principles of Equity<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Joseph D. McCoy ed., 11th ed. 1931):<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cEquity is that system of justice which was developed in and administered by the High Court of Chancery<\/a> in England in the exercise of its extraordinary jurisdiction. This definition is rather suggestive than precise; and invites inquiry rather than answers it. This must necessarily be so.\u00a0 Equity, in its technical and scientific legal sense, means neither natural justice nor even all that portion of natural justice which is susceptible of being judicially enforced. It has, when employed in the language of English law, a precise, definite and limited signification, and is used to denote a system of justice which was administered in a particular court the nature and extent of which system cannot be defined in a single sentence, but can be understood and explained only by studying the history of that court, and the principles upon which it acts. In order to begin to understand what equity is, it is necessary to understand what the English High Court of Chancery<\/a> was, and how it came to exercise what is known as its extraordinary jurisdiction. Every true definition of equity must, therefore, be, to a greater or lesser extent, a history.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [6]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Excerpt from R.E. Megarry’s\u00a0Snell’s Principles of Equity<\/em><\/a> 2 (23d ed. 1947):<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cIn its technical sense, equity may . . . be defined as a portion of natural justice which, although of a nature more suitable for judicial enforcement, was for historical reasons not enforced by the Common Law Courts, an omission which was supplied by the Court of Chancery<\/a>. In short, the whole distinction between equity and law is not so much a matter of substance or principle as of form and history.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [7]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Excerpt from Gianville Williams’\u00a0Learning the Law<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(11th ed. 1982):<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cThe term \u2018equity\u2019 is an illustration of Mr. Towkington\u2019s proposition that some words have a legal meaning very unlike their ordinary one. in ordinary language \u2018equity\u2019 means natural justice; but the beginner must get that idea out of his head when dealing with the system that the lawyers call equity.\u00a0 Originally, indeed, this system was inspired by ideas of natural justice, and that is why it acquired its name; but nowadays equity is no more (and no less) natural justice than the common law, and it is in fact nothing else than a particular branch of the law of England. Equity, therefore, is law. The student should not allow himself to be confused by the lawyer\u2019s habit of contrasting \u2018law\u2019 and \u2018equity,\u2019 for in this context \u2018law\u2019 is simply an abbreviation for the common law. Equity is law in the sense that it is part of the law of England; it is not law only in the sense that it is not part of the common law.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [8]<\/span><\/p>\n

court of chancery<\/a> <\/span>– the English court of equity, where one appealed to the “King’s Conscience.”\u00a0 The term is derived from the court of the Lord Chancellor, the original English court of equity. <\/strong>\u2014 aka chancery<\/strong><\/em><\/span>; chancery court<\/strong><\/em><\/span>.; court of conscience<\/strong><\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. A right, interest, or remedy recognizable by a court of equity<\/a><\/strong> <there was no formal contract formation, so they sued for breach in equity>.<\/span><\/p>\n