EQUINOX 



2957 



EQUITY 



Equinox. Dates on which the 

 day and night are of equal length, 

 and the length of day is the same 

 for all parts of the world. Twice 

 a year at the vernal equinox, 

 March 22, and at the autumnal 

 equinox, Sept. 22 all places on 

 the earth experience a day and 

 a night each twelve hours long. 



The plane of the path of the 

 centre of the earth round the 

 centre of the sun is called the plane 

 of the ecliptic. The earth is tilted, 

 and the axis of its rotation makes 

 a constant angle with this plane. 

 Consequently the plane of the 

 earth's equator infinitely produced 

 cuts the celestial sphere in a fixed 

 great circle which is called the celes- 

 tial equator. At the points where 

 the plane of the ecliptic cuts the 

 plane of the equator, or more pre- 

 cisely, when the earth in its annual 

 path is at these points, it will be so 

 placed with regard to the sun that 

 all over the earth day and night 

 will be equal in length. 



Equipment. Term employed 

 popularly to describe the complete 

 outfit worn and carried by the sol- 

 dier in the field, but officially re- 

 stricted to weapons and acces- 

 sories as distinct from clothing 

 and necessaries. The equipment 

 of the British infantryman com- 

 prises ammunition (150 rounds *303 

 inchf or rifle), bayonet withscabbard 

 and frog, belt with braces and car- 

 tridge carriers, haversack with 

 rations, knife, fork, and spoon, 

 entrenching implement and carrier, 

 mess tin, pack containing great- 

 coat, mending and cleaning ma- 

 terials, toilet necessaries such as 

 razor, towel, and brushes, rifle, and 

 water-bottle. 



Cavalry carry similar equipment, 

 but with leather belt and bandolier 

 in place of the webbing belt, braces 

 and cartridge carriers, and in ad- 

 dition a sword and scabbard (also 

 in some cases a lance), and various 

 articles of saddlery and harness. 

 They do not carry a pack, the small 

 articles which the infantryman 

 places therein being accommodated 

 in the haversack. The normal 

 weight of the infantry equipment is 

 about 60 lb., and a cavalry horse 

 carries about 270 lb. including the 

 rider. The present webbing belt and 

 braces issued to the infantry weigh 

 much less than the old leather gear, 

 permit of exact adjustment to the 

 most comfortable position for the 

 individual wearer, and are so de- 

 signed that no straps cross the chest 

 or back, thus permitting of unre- 

 stricted breathing in spite of the 

 heavy load. The cartridge carriers 

 are arranged on the front of the 

 braces which support the belt, their 

 weight being balanced by that of 

 the pack secured to the braces on 



the shoulders, the remaining items 

 being slung oA the belt so that the 

 shoulders bear all the weight. 



Equisetaceae(Lat. equus, horse; 

 seta, bristle). Small natural order 

 of Pteridophytes. It consists of 

 the single genus Equisetum the 

 horsetails. They are mostly natives 

 of the N. temperate regions, but a 

 few are sub-tropical. They have 

 creeping rootstocks from which 

 arise the erect, hollow, jointed 

 stems, which are round, and finely 

 grooved. They are solid at the 

 joints, which have toothed sheaths 

 into which the next joint fits and 

 from which the branches are given 

 off in whorls. The spores are pro- 

 duced on the undersides of scales 

 of a terminal oval cone. E. martii, 

 a native of Brazil, attains a height 



Equisetaceae. Fertile and barren 

 stems of the horsetail 



of 30 ft., but the other species are 

 only a few feet high. The stems 

 are covered with silica, and those 

 of E. hyemale constitute the Dutch 

 rushes of commerce, used for scour- 

 ing and polishing. 



Equitable. British life assur- 

 ance company, in full the Equitable 

 Life Assurance Society. Founded 

 in 1762 as the Society for Equit- 

 able Assurance in Life and Sur- 

 vivorship, it is one of the oldest of 

 the kind. In 1892 it was registered 

 as a company. It is what is known 

 as a mutual office, i.e. it has no 

 shareholders merely as such. It has 

 a controlling interest in the Univer- 

 sity Life Assurance Society and the 

 Reversionary Interest Co. The 

 head offices are 110, Mansion House 

 Street, London, E.G. 



Equitable Charge. In English 

 law, a charge on property which 

 formerly was not enforced by a 

 court of common law, but only by 

 the court of chancery. Wherever 

 the chancery court found an in- 

 tention in a document that a sum 

 of money should be secured on 

 property, or paid out of it, the 

 court would enforce it as a charge. 

 For instance, if A owes B money, 

 and gives B a letter saying " I 

 will pay you out of the money due 



to me by C," this is a charge on C's 

 debt, and the court will restrain 

 C from paying the debt to A with- 

 out satisfying B's claim. To-day 

 all courts recognize and enforce 

 equitable charges. 



Equitable Estate. In English 

 law the legal ownership of property 

 may be vested in one person, and 

 the equitable ownership in another. 

 Thus a trustee is the legal owner 

 of the trust property, but the bene- 

 ficiaries have the equitable estate. 



Equites (pi. of eques, horseman). 

 In ancient Rome, originally citi- 

 zens wealthy enough to support the 

 burden of serving as horse sol- 

 diers. With lapse of time, as the 

 citizen militia gave way to a paid 

 army, the equites, conventionally 

 translated knights^ became merely 

 a class in the state possessed of a 

 certain amount of wealth, ranking 

 below the senatorial order, but 

 above the common people. As 

 senators were forbidden to engage 

 in trade, this equestrian order 

 tended to be composed largely of 

 merchants and other capitalists. 



The farming of taxes was an 

 equestrian privilege, and at one time 

 jurymen were exclusively drawn 

 from the ranks of the knights. 

 Under Augustus the order became 

 more sharply defined ; certain posts 

 in the state service were reserved 

 for them, the most important being 

 the governorship of Egypt, the 

 commissionership of corn supply, 

 and the command of the fleet. The 

 originally military associations of 

 the equites survived only in state 

 ceremonies. Pron. ek-wit-eez. 



Equity (Lat. aequitas). Term 

 used by English lawyers to 

 describe that part of the law of 

 England formerly enforced only 

 by the court of chancery, and not 

 by the common law courts. 

 Equity was of two kinds : ( 1 ) where 

 the court of chancery gave rights 

 which the common law courts did 

 not give ; and (2) where chancery 

 gave remedies which the common 

 law knew nothing about. 



Equitable rights unknown to 

 the common law were numerous. 

 The common law knew nothing of 

 trusts and trustees. If a man had 

 property conveyed to him, he was 

 the legal owner, but if the property 

 had been conveyed to him to be ap- 

 plied for the benefit of another, the 

 chancellor would enforce the trust. 

 The chancellor's jurisdiction was 

 said to be founded on conscience. 

 Gradually, side by side with the 

 common law and sometimes con- 

 flicting with it, a great system of 

 equity or chancery law grew up. 

 When rights at common law and 

 rights in equity did so conflict, the 

 chancery court would grant an in- 

 junction to restrain the defendant 



