EQUITY. 173 EQUITY OF REDEMPTION. <U the trial at law. Tlic effect was to compel the defendant to give to the plaintiff (in equity) the information which he sought, and to supply him with 'admissions' made by the defendant (in equity I. which could be used as evidence at the trial at law. Sec biviDENOE. (2) Bills to Perpetuate Testimony. — Equity early exercised its jurisdiction to take the testi- mony of witnesses to be used on the trial of an ailicn at law. it might do this cither oil the ground (hat the witness was aged or infirm, and that his testimony might not be obtainable at the trial at law, or because the plaintiff in equity, being a prospective defendant at law, feared that the plaintiff would postpone the action at law until the evidence was lost. This form of relief is analogous to bills quia timet, but is remedial rather than preventive. Owing to the changes in rules of evidence and the various statutory fonns of commission to take testimony, both bills of discovery and bills to perpetuate testimony are now obsolete. In the development of equity jurisprudence, certain maxims adopted by courts of chancery have played a considerable part. Frequent ref- erence to these in the opinions of equity judges, as apparent rules of decision, have perhaps given them undue importance. Properly, they are not fixed rules of general application, but rather apt phrases which are indicative merely of general guiding principles having many special applica- tions. The scope of this article will not permit their extended examination, and it will be suffi- cient to enumerate some of the more familiar maxims. Thus: He who seeks equity must do equity. He who comes into equity must come with clean hands. Equity aids the diligent, not the slothful. Equity follows the law ( indicating that when- ever legal rules are applicable equity will follow them — e.g. the Statute of Limitations). Where equities are equal the legal title will prevail. A proceeding in equity is not begun by writ as in a common-law action, but by petition, which prays that a subpoena issue to the defendant compelling him to answer. The final relief grant- ed by the court is embodied in a decree. The court of equity may grant any appropriate in- terlocutory relief. An important incident to equity pleading was the power of the plaintiff to compel the defendant to give 'discovery' — i.e. to testify fully in his answer to all matters rele- vant to the controversy. (See Pleading; Prac- tice; Chancery, etc.) Consult: The commen- taries of Blackstone and Kent; the authorities referred to under Jurisprudence; and such spe- cial treatises as Pomeroy, Treatise on Equity Jurisprudence as Administered in the United States (2d ed., San Francisco, 18112) ; Bisphan, Principles of Equity (6th ed., Philadelphia, 1899) ; Bigelow, Elements of Equity (Boston, 1899) ; White and Tudor, Leading Cases in Equity (7th ed., London, 1S97) ; Kelke. An Epitome of Leading Cases in Equity (London, 1901); and the authorities referred to under Pleading ; Procedure, etc. EQUITY, Courts op. See Chancery. EQUITY OF REDEMPTION. The estate or interest which the mortgagor retains in mort- gaged property. In strict legal theory, the ex- pression has reference only to the righl of the mortgagor I inpel 1 he redemption of the mort- gaged properly after forfeiture and after the title of the mortgagee has become absolute .it law; but in practice the term is employed by lawyers as well as n popular speech lo denote the residuum of interest left in the mortgagor after tin' making of i he mortgage. The legal effect of mortgaging property, whether real or personal, is lo vest a defeasible title in the mortgagee, which, upon default of payment, lice, ones an absolute title ai law. The common-law tribunals maintained the legal effect of the transaction with rigorous consistency, re- quiring the mortgagor to perform the condition of payment, upon which the conveyance had been made, to the letter. If he made hi^ payment at the time and place specified, his title revived and the property became his again without a recon- veyance If he made default in payment on the 'law day,' the forfeiture was absolute and he was still liable to pay the debt in addition to losing the property. It was one of the earliest and greatest triumphs of the equity system to pre- serve to the unfortunate debtor the right to re- deem his property, notwithstanding his default, by the subsequent payment of the debt with in- terest. This innovation, which destroyed the legal ef- fect of the forfeiture which had been incurred, was stoutly resisted by the common lawyers of the time, Sir Matthew Hale, when Chief Justice, declaring from the bench that by the growth of such equities the heart of the common law was eaten out. But the justice and humanity of the relief thus extended to the debtor were too ob- vious to permit a return to the system of for- feitures, and it soon became a recognized head of equity jurisdiction. Under this salutary sys- tem the mortgage has, both in law and equity, come to be considered merely a superior sort of lien, the mortgagor's equity of redemption rep- resenting for most purposes the real and sub- stantial ownership of the mortgaged property. As such it may be combed, encumbered, or de- vised by the mortgagor; or it may be transmitted by descent to his heirs. It is liable for the debts of the mortgagor, like the rest of his property, and is, in the United States, subject to dower and curtesy. Being thus an alienable estate, an interest in it may be acquired by any one to whom any estate or interest therein is granted, as a tenant for years, a subsequent mortgagee or other incum- brancer, the grantee of an easement, etc., as well as the heirs, devisees, and assignees of the mort- gagor. Any person having such an interest has an equal right to redeem with the mortgagor himself. The mortgagee is not precluded from becoming the owner of the equity of redemption or of any interest therein by a purchase in good faith from any person having the right. The usual effect of such a conveyance to the mort- gagee is to extinguish the equity and convert his defeasible title into an absolute title, though this result may be avoided if the intention of the parties or the interests of justice require that the equity be kept aliva. Originally the equitable right of redemptiou was unlimited in point of time, and this is still the case so long as the relation of mortgagor and mortgagee continues, unless it be cut off by the
