EQUULEUS 



from exercising his legal rights 

 that is, from bringing or going on 

 with a common law action to 

 enforce those rights. Since the 

 Judicature Act, 1873, all courts 

 administer common law and equity 

 side by side, so that such injunc- 

 tions are now unnecessary. 



Equitable remedies unknown to 

 the common law were invented by 

 the chancellors. The chief were 

 the injunction and specific perform- 

 ance. The latter compels a man 

 to carry out the contract he has 

 made, and does not allow him to 

 break it and pay damages. This 

 jurisdiction was founded on the 

 inadequacy of the remedy at 

 common law, whose one and only 

 panacea for every wrong and every 

 breach of contract was damages. 

 On the same principle the chan- 

 cellor would grant an injunction 

 to restrain a breach of contract, or 

 the continuance of a wrong, or 

 the commission of a threatened 

 wrong, where damages would be 

 an inadequate remedy. Thus, if I 

 had a right of way over a footpath 

 across A's field, and A stopped up 

 the path, at common law I would 

 get damages ; but in equity I 

 would have an injunction to re- 

 strain A from continuing to ob- 

 struct the path ; and if A dis- 

 obeyed, he would be attached. 

 Equity, however, would not grant 

 specific performance of every con- 

 tract, or grant an injunction to 

 prevent every wrong ; but only 

 when the remedy in damages was 

 inadequate. 



At common law there was no 

 discovery, and, until compara- 

 tively recently, neither plaintiff 

 nor defendant, nor anyone privy 

 to them in blood or estate, was 

 allowed to give evidence. This 

 did not apply in the chancery 

 court. So a common law plain- 

 tiff or defendant used to "file a 

 bill " for discovery. That is, he 

 made the other side answer on 

 oath as to what documents he had 

 in his possession. Also he could 

 ask a long string of questions about 

 the common law action, and compel 

 the other side to answer them in 

 writing and on oath. This pro- 

 cedure is now obsolete, as all 

 courts, even county courts, have 

 power to order discovery and in- 

 terrogatories. 



The principal subjects of the 

 equitable jurisdiction are the en- 

 forcement and administration of 

 trusts, the winding-up of part- 

 nerships; the administration of 

 deceased persons' estates ; the 

 guardianship and property of in- 

 fants; injunctions; the specific 

 performance of contracts ; the 

 taking of accounts ; the rectifica- 



2958 



tion, setting aside, or cancellation 

 of deeds or other written instru- 

 ments, on the ground of mistake, - 

 misrepresentation, fraud, or undue 

 influence ; and the partition or 

 sale of real estates. 



At one time a court of equity 

 could not award damages. They 

 were reserved for the courts of 

 common law. By the Judicature 

 Act, 1873, however, all branches 

 of the high court can now award 

 damages in proper cases ; though 

 it is still unusual to bring an 

 action for damages alone in the 

 chancery division. See Juris- 

 prudence ; Law. 



R. Storry Deans 



Equuleus (Lat., young horse). 

 One of the Ptolemaic constella- 

 tions. It is a small group of stars 

 close by the head of Pegasus, so 

 placed as to suggest that another 

 horse is galloping by Pegasus. 



Era OR AERA. In chronology, a 

 fixed point of time from which 

 years and historical events are 

 reckoned. Generally the date of 

 some decisive occurrence in the 

 history of the world, or of a par- 

 ticular people or individual, it also 

 denotes the series of years reckoned 

 therefrom. Important eras are : the 

 Greek Olympiads, from 776 B.C. ; 

 the Roman, from 753 B.C., the tra- 

 ditional date of the foundation of 

 Rome ; the Babylonian, that of 

 Nabonassar, 747 B.C. ; the Spanish 

 from 38 B.C., the conquest of Spain 

 by Augustus ; the Christian ; the Ma- 

 homedan, 622. See Chronology. 



Era, THE. Weekly organ of the 

 theatrical and musical professions. 

 It was founded, Sept. 30, 1838, and 

 acquired by Frederick Ledger in 

 1856, being afterwards edited by 

 his son Edward. It was bought by 

 Sir William Bass in 1904 ; and in 

 1916 was owned by Messrs. Bert 

 Feldman and Alfred Barnard, the 

 editor. The Era Almanack was first 

 issued in 1868. 



Eradicated (Lat. ex, out ; radix, 

 root). In heraldry, a term applied 

 to a tree shown torn up by the roots. 

 Erased. In 

 heraldry, a 

 charge, such as 

 a head, a limb, 

 a branch of a 

 tree, shown 

 with a jagged 

 end. But a 

 branch shown 

 as torn off is 

 generally said to be slipped if 

 small, or snagged if large. 



Erasmus, DESIDERIUS (1466- 

 1536). Dutch humanist. He was 

 probably born at Rotterdam, Oct. 

 28, 1466, the illegitimate son of 

 Gerard de Praet of Gouda. For the 

 name Gerard, meaning well-be- 

 loved, he afterwards substituted 



ERASMUS 



the incorrect Latin and Greek 

 equivalents, Desiderius Erasmus. 

 After four years' schooling at De- 

 venter, he was sent by his guardians 

 to a seminary of the Brothers of 

 the Common Life at Hertogen- 

 bosch (Bois-le-duc), and in 1486 



Erased in heraldry 



After F. Fcnn in the Royal Collection at Windsor 



entered the cloister of Stein and 

 took the vows of the Augustinian 

 order. In 1491 he became secre- 

 tary to the bishop of Cambrai and 

 a priest in 1492. After spending 

 some time at the College Montaigu 

 in Paris, he returned to Cambrai, 

 but resumed his studies in Paris in 

 1496. At the same time he took 

 pupils, one of whom, Lord Mount- 

 joy, invited him to England. 



Residing chiefly at Oxford, he 

 became the friend of Thomas More 

 and Colet, and received instruction 

 in Greek from Grocyn and Linacre. 

 He re- visited England in 1506 and 

 1509, the last time at the invitation 

 of Fisher, bishop of Rochester and 

 chancellor of Cambridge univer- 

 sity. He taught Greek in Cam- 

 bridge, and was appointed Lady 

 Margaret professor of divinity. 

 Between his visits to England and 

 for some time afterwards he led a 

 wandering life. From 1521-29 he 

 was at Basel, where most of his 

 works were published, and at Frei- 

 burg from 1529-35, whence he re- 

 turned to Basel and died July 12, 

 1536. 



Of his editions of classical works 

 the most important is Terence, 

 1532. Adagia, 1500, and Apoph- 

 thegmata, 1531, contain maxims 

 and anecdotes from classical au- 

 thors, accompanied by moral re- 

 flections ; Ciceronianus, 1528, is 

 an attack upon the Italian school 

 of Latin prose writers, who re- 

 fused to admit any words or 

 phrases not found in Cicero. He 

 edited many of the Fathers of the 

 Church, but his greatest service to 



