actual cash value of property. The term is also applied to a similar process of leveling or adjusting the assessineiits of individual tsxpayers, so that the property of one shall not be assessed at a higher (or lower) per- centage of its market vallie than the prop- erty of another. See Haiiicy v. Mitcheli ('uunty. 44 Iowa, 203; Wallace v. l3u1len, 6 Old. 757, 54 Pnc. 974: Poe v. Howell (N. M.) 67 Fae. 62; Chamberlain v. Waltei', I30 Fe(L 792; State v. Karr. 64 Neh. 514, 90 N. W. 298.
EQILTERRY. An officer of state under the master of the horse.
EQUES. Lot. In Roman and old En- glish law. A knight. EQUILOCUS. An equal. It is mention-
ed in Simeon Dunelm, A. D. 1382. Jacob.
EQIIINOXES. The two periods or the year (vernal equinox nhout March 21st, and autumnal equniox about September 226) when the time from the rising or the sun to its setting is equal to the time from its setting to its rising. See Dig. 43, 13, 1, 8.
EQITITABLE. Just; conformable to the principles of natural justice and right.
Just, fair, and right, in consideration or the facts and circumstances of the individual case.
Existing in equity; available or sustainable only in equity, or only upon the rules and principles of equity.
—-Equitable notion. One founded on an eq- uity or coanizable in a court of equity; more specifically, an action arising, not im- mediately from the contract in suit, but from an equity in favor of a third person, not a par- ly to it, but for whose henclit certain stipu- lations or promises were made. Cragin v. Loveli. 109 U. S. 194. 3 Sup. Ct. 132. 27 L. Ed. 903; Thomas v, Musimil Mut. Protective Un- ion, 121 N. Y. 45, 24: N. E. . L. R
' . Shclly (C. C.) 80 Fed. " assignment. An ass_ which, thouch invalid at law, will be recognized and enforced in equity; 9. 17., an assignment of I: chose in action or of future acquisitions of the nasignor. Holmes v. Evans. 129 N Y 140 29 N. E. _. Story v Hull, 143 First Nat. Bank v.
Iii. 500, 32 N. n. - Coiites (C. C.) 8 Fed.
As to equitable "Asset " "Coristrnction," "Converslon," "Defensc," "P‘ascmcnt." "Eject- nieiit." "Election." "Estate," "Estoppei." "Execution." "Gai'nishmont." "LeVy." "Lien," \[oi't,gage," "Titie," and "Waste," see those titles.
EQUITATUBA. In old English law. Traveling furniture, or rid.in.?. equipments, including horses, horse harness, etc. Reg. Orig. 100b,' St Westm. 2, C. 30.
EQUITY. 1. In its broadest and most general signification, this term denotes the spirit and the habit of fairness, justncss, and right dealing which would regulate the inter-
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course of men with men.—the rule of doing to all others as we desire them to do to us, or. as it is expressed by Justinian, "to live hm- estly, to harm nobody, to render to esery man his due." Inst. 1. 1, 3. It is therefore the synonym of natural right or ‘lustlce But in this sense its obligation is ethlml rntlicr than jural, and its discussion lieli-rigs to the sphere of morals. It is grounded in the precepts of the conscience, not in any sanction of positive law.
2. In a more restricted sense, the word de- notes equal and impartial justice as bctireeii two persons whose rights or claims are in (-ondict; justice, that is, as i1SCeI'ti'l.llJEd by natural reason or ethical insight, but independent of the formulated body or law. This is not a technical mooning of the term. ea- cept in so far os courts which administer equity seek to discover it by the agencies above mentioned, or apply it herond the strict lines of positive law. See Miller v. Keunist~ on_ 86 Me. 550, 30 Atl. 114.
3. in one of its technical me:-iulngs, equity is :1 body of jurisprudence, or field of juiis- diction, (lli‘1‘ei-ing in its origin, theory, and methods from the common law.
It is a body _of rules existing by the side or the original civil law. founded on distinct pricniples, and claiming incidentally to supersede the civil law in virtue of a su]i01'iDr sanctity inhgrent ln those principles. Maine, Anc. law,
I.
"As old rules become too narrow, or are felt t_o he out of harmony with advancing ciiil'oition, a machinery is needed for their gradual enlargement and adaptation to new vious of society. One mode of accomplishing this oh- Ject on a_lnrge scale, without appearing to dis- regard existing law, is the introduction, by the prerogative of some high functionary, of a more pr-rfs-ct body of rule.,. discoverable in. his ju- dicial conscience, which is to stand side by side with the law of the land, overriding it in case of conflict, as on some title of inherent superiority, but not purporting to repenl it Such a bod_v of rules has been called ‘Eou.\t)'."' Holl. Jur. 59.
"Equity," in its technical sense, contr.'»id|stinguished from natural and universal equity or just 9, may well be described as a "poi-lion of justice" or natural cquil}, not embodied in legislative enactments, or in the rules of com- mon law, yet modified by a due regard thereto and to the complex rclations and convenieuc--n of an artificial state of society, and admim<n>red in regard to cases where the partiuilnr rights. in respect of which relief is sought come within some general class of rights enforced at law, or may be enforced viithout dottiment or inconvenience to the community, but " here, as to such piirticulor rights, the ordinary courts of law cannot, or orifinaily did not. clearly afford relief. Roh. Eq.
4. In a still more restricted sense. it is a system of jurisprudence, or branch of remedial justice, administered by certain tri- bunals, distinct from the comnioii-liirv con and empowered to decree "equity" in the sense last above given. Here it becomes a complex of Well-settled and well-understood rules. principles, and precedents. See [1 imil- ton v. Avery, 20 Tex. U33: Dalton v. Vander- veer, 8 Misc. Ilep. 484. ‘Z9 N. Y. Supp. 3J_~ Puriiicl er v. Bourne, 8 Wash. 45, 3:‘: Poe. 580':
