equitation (ekwitashon)

[= F. équit a tion = Sp. equitacion = Pg. equitação = It. equi tazione, L. equitatio ( n- ), The pretender to equitation mounted. Irving. There is a species of equitation peculiar to our native land, in which a rail from the nearest fence is converted into a steed. Lowell, Fireside Travels, p. 203. 21. A ride on horseback. I haue lately made a few rural equitations to visit some seats, gardens, etc. Quoted in Nichols's Illus. of Lit. History, IV. 497. equitemporaneous (e-kwi-tem-pō-rānē-us), a . [=It. equitemporaneo , æqu æquus , equal, + tem pus ( temp or- ), time: see temp or all , and cf. con temporaneous .] Isochronous; occupying the same length of time. [Rare.] Till Galileo took notice of the vibrations with a mathematical eye, men knew not this property of swinging bodies, that the greater and smaller arches were, as to sense, equitemporaneous . Boyle, Works, III. 476. equites (ek'wi-tēz), n. pl. [L., pl. of eques, a horseman, knight, nally constituting the cavalry of the army, of patrician rank, and equipped by the state, but afterward comprising also rich plebeians, and in part finding their own equipments. The equites, order ), finally lost in great part their distinctive military or the equestrian order (in distinction the character, and were constituted as a cla intermediate between the senatorial order and the ordinary citizens, based to judiciainimitarobertiaryiptike right offices, high and to some social distinctions. 1987 2+. [ cap .] In zoöl . , a Linnean group of butterflies, corresponding to the old genus Papilio . equitoon (ek-wi-tön'), n. A kind of African antelope, Antelope adenota , found on the Gambia. Also called koban a . equity (ek'wi-ti), n. [ equitee , equite , F. équité = Pr. equitat = Sp. equidad = Pg. equidade = It. equità , æquit a (t-)s, equality, justice, fairne , æquus , equal, just, fair: see equal .] 1. That which is equally right or just to all concerned; equal or impartial justice; fairne ; impartiality. This Kyng is so rightfulle and of equytee in his Doomes that men may go sykerlyche thorghe out alle his Contree. Mandeville , Travels, p. 198. He dede equite to alle euene-forth his powere. Piers Plowman (B), xix. 305. With righteousne shall he judge the world, and the people with equity. Ps. xcviii. 9. IMG:content-0665.png:[blocks in formation] (b) The system of jurisprudence or body of doctrines and rules as to what is equitable and fair and what is not, by which the defects of, and the incidental hardships resulting from, the inflexibility of the forms and the universality of the rules of the common-law tribunals are corrected or remedied, and substantial justice is done. In the early history of the English people it was found, as society advanced, that many grievances arose which were not included in the cla es of cases which the common law authorized the judges to take cognizance of. Hence it became customary for those who could not obtain redre in the courts, because no common-law action appropriate to their grievance had been sanctioned, or because the common law, while equitable and fair in its general application, was unfair in its application to their particular case, to apply to the king in Parliament or in council for justice. Petitioners in such cases (if it could be shown that there was no adequate remedy at law, or that the operation of the common law was unfair in its application to the particular case in hand) were referred to the chancellor (originally an ecclesiastic), the keeper of the king's conscience, who, after hearing the parties, required what was equitable and just to be done, under penalty of imprison ment, excommunication, etc. Thus, the common-law remedy of collecting a debt by getting judgment and execution became established at a time when property consisted almost entirely of lands and goods; but as wealth increased, and appeared in the forms of intangible property, such as valuable rights in action, contracts, securities, patents, copyrights, etc., the chancellor would entertain a complaint (called a bill in equity ) from a creditor, setting forth that he was unable to collect his judgment out of property that could be reached by legal proce , and that the debtor had other property which ought to be applied in payment, and asking that the defendant be compelled to do what equity and good conscience required to be done. The chancellor (the Court of Chancery) could compel the debtor to a ign his intangible property to a receiver, a mode of relief which the law had never conferred on a sheriff the power to afford. Or if a creditor, to secure his demand, obtained from his debtor a which terms absolute conveyance, and was proceeding to enforce it as if it were so intended, the Court of Chancery would entertain a complaint from the debtor offering to pay the debt, and asking to be allowed to redeem the land. The steady growth of the complexities of property and of busine and social relations increased the cases requiring equitable remedies to supply the deficiency of common law remedies, or equitable interference with the unconscionable enforcement of common-law rules, until the procedure in equity developed a substantive system of doctrines and remedies covering a great variety of subjects scarcely contemplated by the common law. In Eng land and the United States the doctrines of the common law have now generally been subjected to the established modifications introduced by equity, and in many jurisdictions the two systems of rules thus merged and modified are administered by the same courts. This new system is generally known in the United States as the code prac tice, or the new or reformed procedure. There is not a single department of the law which is more completely fenced in by principle, or that is better limited by considerations of public convenience, both in doctrine and discipline, than equity. Story, Misc. Writings, p. 540. (c) The court or jurisdiction in which these doctrines are applied: as, a suit in equity. (d) An equitable right; that to which one is justly entitled; specifically, a right recognized by courts for: as, the wife's equity, or her right, when her of equity which the common law did not provide husband sought to enforce his common-law claim to reduce her property to his own po es(e) The remaining interest belonging to one sion, to have a portion of it settled on herself. who has pledged or mortgaged his property, or the surplus of value which may remain after the property has been disposed of for the satis faction of liens. [U.S.] (f) A right or obligation incident to a property or contract as equivalent between two persons, but not incident to the property or contract from its own nature. In this sense used in the plural. Rapalje and Law rence. - Equity of a statute, effect given to a statute in accordance with what is deemed its reason and spirit, which might not be given to it by a strictly literal reading.Equity of redemption. (a) The right of a mortgager or a pledger by absolute deed to redeem the property by paying the debt, even after forfeiture, but before sale under foreclosure, or unconditional transfer of title, or before this right is barred by statutes of limitation. (b) In conveyancing, in the United States, the ownership of or title to real property which is subject to a mortgage: sometimes simply called equity. - Equity side of the court, or equity term, in a court in which both equity and the common law are separately retained and administered, a se ion or a term in which causes in equity are heard, as distinguished from those in which common-law causes are heard. Syn. 1. Rectitude, fairne , honesty, uprightne . -2. Right, Law, etc. See justice.