EQUITY. A branch of remedial justice by and through which relief is afforded to suitors in the courts of equity.
In the broad sense in which this term is some times used, it signifies natural justice.
In a more limited application, it denotes eqnal justice between contending parties. This is its moral signification, in reference to the rights of parties having conflicting claims; but applied to courts and their jurisdiction end proceedings, it has a more restrained and limited signification.
One division of courts is into courts of law and courts of equity. And equity, in this relation and application, is a branch of remedial justice by and through which relief is afforded to suitore in the courts of equity.
The difference between the remedial justice of the courts of common law and that of the courts of equity is marked and material. That administered by the courts of law is limited by the principles or the common law (which are to a great extent posi tive and inflexible), and espeoially by the nature and charadter of the process and pleadings, and of the judgments which those courts can render; he canoe the pleadings cannot fully present all the matters in controversy, nor can the judgments he adapted to the special exigencies which may exist in particular cases. It is not uncommon, also, for oases to fail in those courts, from the fact that too few or too many persons have been joined as parties, or because the pleadings have not been framed with sufficient technical precision.
The remedial process of the courts of equity, oo the other hand, admits. and, generally, reqnires, that all persons having an interest shall be made parties, and makes a large allowance for amendments by summoning and discharging parties after the com mencement of the suit. The pleadings are usually framed so as to present to the consideration of the court the whole case, with its possible legal rights, and all its equities,—that is, all the gronnde upon which the suitor is or is not entitled to relief upon the principles of equity. And its final remedial process may he so varied as to meet the require ments of these equities, in cases where the jnriadie tiOn of the courts of equity exists, by "commending what is right, and prohibiting what is wrong." In
other words, its final process is varied so es to enable the courts to do that equitable justice 'be tween the parties which the case deroattds, either by 'commanding what is to he done, or prohibiting what is threatened to be done.
The principles upon which, end the modes and forms by and through which, justice is administered in the United States, are derived to a great extent from those which were in existence in England at the time of the settlement of this country; and it is therefore important to a correct understanding of the nature and character of our own juris prudence, not only to trace it back to its intro duction here on the early settlement of the colonies, but also to trace the English jurisprudence from its earliest inception as the administration of law, founded on principles, down to that period. It is in this way that we are enabled to explain many things in our own practice which would otherwise be entirely obscure. This is particnlarly true of the principles which regulate the jurisdiction and practice of the courts of equity, and of the prin ciples of equity es they are now applied and so ministered in the courts of law whioh at the presant day have equitable juriediotion conferred upon them by statutes passed for that purpose. And for the purpose of a competent understanding of the course of decisions to the oourts of equity in Englund, it is necessary to refer to the origin of the equitable jurisdiction there, and to trace its history, inquiring upon what principles it was originally founded, and how it has been enlarged The study of equity jurisprudence, therefore, comprises an inquiry into the origin and history of the courts of equity; the distinctive principles upon which jurisdiction in equity is founded; the nature, character, and extent of the jurisdiction itself; its peouliar remedies; the rules and maxims which regulate its administration; its remedial process end proceedings, and modes of defence; and its Wes of evidence and practice.