Equity
Definition
1. Fairness; justice. 2. The value of a property minus any mortgages or liens on it. 3. A branch of jurisprudence that arose in England as an alternative to the harsh common law, in which courts tried to determine what would be fair in a given situation instead of strictly applying law and precedent. Today in the U.S., courts of law and equity have merged for the most part, but equity still applies in situations where appropriate relief would be an injunction or specific performance instead of monetary damages or there is otherwise no remedy available at law.