Equity
From English law
Basic ideasProperty
What it means
In England and its former colonies, equity is a body of rules developed by the old Court of Chancery. It adds remedies and doctrines that the common-law courts did not provide: trusts, injunctions, specific performance and more.
Why it travels badly
Words like équité, Billigkeit and equidad mean 'fairness' or 'what is just in the case at hand'. They do not mean a separate body of law with its own history, so a translation can make equity sound vague when it is in fact a precise set of rules.
How other systems say it
équité
A principle of fairness that judges and arbitrators may sometimes use, not a second system of law.
Billigkeit
Fairness in a particular situation, used inside a code that has its own general clauses.
Tip for translators and students
When 'equity' means the Chancery body of law, say so. When a civil-law text uses 'equity' to mean fairness, do not translate it as the Chancery 'equity'.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
TheLawToKnow Tools’s glossary is an educational overview of the main differences between legal systems. It is not legal advice.
