EQUESTRIAN ORDER 



2067 



EQUITY 



surface of the earth into two equal parts called 

 the northern and southern hemispheres. De- 

 grees of latitude are measured from the equa- 

 tor north or south along imaginary lines running 

 perpendicular to it and converging toward the 

 poles, where they meet. Degrees of longitude 

 are measured along the equator or lines run- 



THE EQUATOR 



It marks the center of the torrid zone ; is 23% 

 from the Tropic of Cancer (to the north), and the 

 same distance from the Tropic of Capricorn (to 

 the south). 



ning parallel to it. All places on the equator 

 have days and nights of equal length all the 

 year. 



The celestial equator encircles the celestial 

 sphere as the terrestrial equator encircles the 

 globe. When the sun is in the celestial equator 

 in spring and autumn, days and nights are 

 equal all over the world. An irregular circle, 

 the line of which runs sometimes north, some- 

 times south of the equator, is known as the 

 magnetic equator; it is about 90 from the 

 magnetic poles. On this line a magnetic needle 

 has no inclination and remains horizontal when 

 free to turn in any direction. 



Related Subjects The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 

 Aclinic Line Latitude 



Kquinox Zone 



EQUESTRIAN, e kwes ' tri an, ORDER , orig- 

 inally the cavalry of the Roman army. Rom- 

 ulus is said to have selected from the three 

 principal Roman tribes a bodyguard of 300 

 < (/uitcs, or knights, called celeres. This num- 

 ber was afterwards gradually increased to 1,800. 

 Until 123 B.C. the equites were exclusively a 

 military body. After that time they became a 

 distinct order, non-military in character, and 

 constituted the financial aristocracy of Rome. 



EQUINOX, e'kufinox, in astronomy, the 

 time when the sun passes across the equator 

 in one of the equinoctial points; that is, one 

 of the points where the ecliptic, or sun's path, 

 crosses the celestial equator (see EQUATOR). 

 This occurs twice yearly in the sun's apparent 

 journey round the earth. In the spring the 

 vernal equinox occurs March 21, the sun enter- 



ing then what is known as the first of Aries 

 (see ZODIAC). The autumnal equinox occurs 

 September 22, when the sun enters the first oj 

 Libra. At these times day and night are equal 

 all over the world. The equinoxes do not di- 

 vide the year into two equal periods, as the sun, 

 owing to its inclination on its axis, remains 

 longer north of the equator than south of it. 



Equinoctial, another name for the celestial 

 equator. The equinoctial points, explained 

 above, move backward at the rate of 50" every 

 year (see PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES). The 

 term equinoctial gales is applied to the storms 

 that are popularly supposed to be due to the 

 sun's crossing the equator. There is no reason 

 for such belief, however, and there is nothing 

 in the position of the sun or its effect to cause 

 storms at the equinoxes more than at any 

 other time. C.R.M. 



EQUITY, ek'witi, in legal usage, a body of 

 laws that has been developed to supply cer- 

 tain deficiencies in the common law and to 

 redress certain wrongs for which the common 

 law originally offered no relief. The name is 

 derived from the Latin aequus, meaning fair or 

 equal. The rules of common law, as they were 

 shaped in the early English courts, were in- 

 tended for universal application, and were ac- 

 cordingly too broad to be applied easily to cer- 

 tain individual cases where injustice was ap- 

 parent. This resulted in the practice of 

 appealing to the king for relief. Such appeals 

 became so numerous that in the reign of 

 Edward III they were finally referred to a 

 court of chancery. 



A typical equity case of early times will 

 serve to show the nature of the relief that was 

 sought. At the time when the common law 

 was being formulated property consisted almost 

 wholly of tangible property, such as lands and 

 goods. Therefore the common law provided 

 that debts might be collected by securing judg- 

 ment and execution. Later on, however, many 

 other and less tangible forms of wealth ap- 

 peared, such as contracts, securities, patents, 

 etc., and these could not be seized under the 

 common law. Courts of equity would enter- 

 tain petitions asking that such intangible prop- 

 erty be applied in payment. 



The court of chancery established in Edward 

 Ill's reign remained separate and distinct from 

 the courts of law until 1873, when it became 

 a division of the High Court of Justice. In 

 the United States, chancery courts were in 

 existence in most of the states at the end of 

 the Revolutionary War, but since then they 



