EQUITY
In its broadest sense, equity is fairness. As a legal system, it is a body of law that addresses concerns that fall outside the jurisdiction of COMMON LAW.
Equity is also used to describe the money value of property in excess of claims, liens, or mortgages on the property.
Equity in U.S. law can be traced to England,
where it began as a response to the rigid proce-
dures of England’s law courts. Through the thir-
teenth and fourteenth centuries, the judges in
England’s courts developed the common law, a
system of accepting and deciding cases based on
principles of law shaped and developed in pre-
ceding cases. PLEADING became quite intricate,
and only certain causes of action qualified for
legal redress. Aggrieved citizens found that oth-
erwise valid complaints were being dismissed
for failure to comply with pleading technicali-
ties. If a complaint was not dismissed, relief was
often denied based on little more than the lack
of a controlling statute or precedent.
Frustrated plaintiffs turned to the king, who
referred these extraordinary requests for relief to
a royal court called the Chancery. The Chancery
was headed by a chancellor who possessed the
power to settle disputes and order relief accord-
ing to his conscience. The decisions of a chan-
cellor were made without regard for the
common law, and they became the basis for the
law of equity.
Equity and the common law represented
opposing values in the English legal system. The
common law was the creation of a judiciary
independent from the Crown. Common-law
courts believed in the strict interpretation of
