Equality - equity

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The two words equality and equity are very close in meaning. Both are derived from the Latin adjective aequus, 'even' or 'fair'. Despite their closeness, academic writers should strive not to confuse them. (A spell-checker might still do so.)

  • Equality is 'the state of being equal'. It tends to be interpreted more mathematically than equity - although usually in a general, rather than precise, sense. Equality of pay is the (measurable) similarity of the wages paid to workers doing the same job with the same effectiveness. But the political equality of men and women is a matter of members of the two genders having the same rights in the state, for which numbers are a less satisfactory measurement.
  • Equity is, in an less numerical sense, 'the state [or principle] of being fair', 'natural justice'. This has various more specialized applications:
    • In Law, OED says that Equity is, "in England (hence in Ireland and the United States), the distinctive name of a system of law existing side by side with the common and statute law (together called 'law' in a narrower sense), and superseding these, when they conflict with it. The original notion was ... [that] a decision 'in equity' [was] understood to be one given in accordance with natural justice, in a case for which the law did not provide adequate remedy, or in which its operation would have been unfair. These decisions, however, were taken as precedents, and thus 'equity' early became an organized system of rules, not less definite and rigid than those of 'law'... In England, equity was formerly administered by a special class of tribunals, of which the Court of Chancery was chief; but since 1873 all the branches of the High Court administer both 'law' and 'equity', it being provided that where the two differ, the rules of equity are to be followed. Nevertheless, the class of cases formerly dealt with by the Court of Chancery are still reserved to the Chancery Division of the High Court." AWE is not equipped to go into more detail.
    • In finance, equities are shares in a company. The singular equity represents the net sum of assets minus debts, and various technical meanings of [financing] 'possessions'. Negative equity, for example, is the condition of householder who bought on mortgage, and now owes more money than the property is currently worth.
Equity is also the name of the professional association or trade union in the UK which represents the interests of actors and other performers in dramatic arts.