Equity
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Equity common-law
A branch of law focused on fairness — providing remedies like injunctions when money damages aren't enough.
Technical: The body of principles and remedies, historically administered by courts of chancery, that supplements the common law where its rules would work injustice; now generally merged with law in a single court system.
Founding-era note: At the Founding, law and equity were often separate systems (as in England); most U.S. jurisdictions later merged them, though the distinction still governs the availability of certain remedies.
Sources: Cornell LII — Equity
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