558

50 X 6300 60 X 7 - 420 80 X 10800

190 ) 1520 (8 months, equat.

1520 time. This rule, however, is founded on a supposition, that the interest of the several debts which are payable before the equated time, from their terms to that time, ought to be equal to the sum of the interest of the debts payable after the equated time, from that time to their terms respectively, which, however, is not correct, as it is the discount that is to be considered, and not the interest, in the latter sums. In most cases, however, that occur in business, the error is so trifling, that the popular rule will probably always be made use of, as being by far the most eligible and expeditious method that we could suggest.

EQUATION OF TIME, in astronomy, denotes the difference between mean and apparent time, or the reduction of the apparent unequal time, or motion of the sun or a planet, to equable and mean time or motion. If the earth had only a diurnal motion, without an annual, any given meridian would revolve from the sun to the sun again in the same space of time as from any star to the same star again, because the sun would never change his place with respect to the stars. But as the earth advances almost a degree eastward in its orbit in the time that it turns eastward round its axis, whatever star passes over the meridian on any day with the sun, will pass over the same meridian on the next day, when the sun is almost a degree short of it, that is, 3 minutes 56 seconds sooner. If the year contained only 360 days, as the ecliptic does 360 degrees, the sun's apparent place, so far as his motion is equable, would change a degree every day, and then the sidereal days would be 4 minutes shorter than the solar. The mean and apparent solar days are never equal, except when the sun's daily motion in right ascension is 59'; which is nearly the case about the 15th of April, the 15th of June, the 1st of September, and 24th of December, when the equator is 0, or nearly so; and it is at its greatest about the 1st of November, when it is 16′ 14′′.

EQUATOR. By the celestial equator is understood that imaginary great circle in the heavens, the plane of which is perpendicular to the axis of the earth; it is everywhere 90° distant from the poles of the earth, which are therefore its poles,

and its axis is the axis of the earth. It divides the celestial sphere into the northern and southern hemispheres. During his apparent yearly course, the sun is twice in the equator, at the beginning of spring and of autumn. (See Equinox, and Day.) Then the day and night are equal, whence the name of equator. The situation of the stars, with respect to the equator, is determined by their declension and right ascension. (q. v.) The equator, or equinoctial, called by mariners simply the line, is that great circle of our globe, every point of which is 90 degrees from the poles, which are also its poles, and its axis is the axis of the earth. It is in the plane of the celestial equator. All places which are on it, have invariably equal days and nights. (See Day.) Our earth is divided by it into the northern and southern hemispheres. The diurnal revolution of the earth is in the direction of it. It crosses the centre of Africa, the islands of Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, &c., in Asia, then traverses the Pacific ocean, and crosses South America, in Colombia, thence proceeds through the Atlantic back to Africa. To cross the line, in navigation, is to pass over the equator. The equatorial regions are subject to long calms, alternating with frightful hurricanes. As equal or mean time is estimated by the passage of arcs of the equator over the meridian, it frequently becomes necessary to convert parts of the equator into time, and the converse, which is performed by the following analogy, viz.-as 15° : 1 hour any are of the equator: the time it has been in passing. Or, conversely, 1 hour: 15° : any given time to the arc of the equator.-From this circle is reckoned the latitude of places, both north and south, in degrees of the meridian. (See Latitude, and Longitude.)

EQUATORIAL, UNIVERSAL, or PORta

BLE OBSERVATORY is an instrument intended to answer a number of useful purposes in practical astronomy, independent of any particular observatory. It may be employed in any steady room or place, for performing many useful problems.

EQUERRY, in the British customs; an officer of state, under the master of the horse. There are five equerries, who ride abroad with his majesty; for which purpose, they give their attendance monthly, one at a time, and are allowed a table.

EQUESTRIAN ORDER, in Roman antiquities (ordo equestris). The equites did not at first form a distinct order, but were

merely selected, 100 from each tribe, as the body-guard of the king, and were called celeres, because they were mounted. Their number was afterwards increased; but when the equites became a distinct order, or class, is not known with certainty; it was probably soon after the expulsion of the kings. None but those who were named by the censor belonged to the order of equites; they were taken from plebeian or patrician families, and those who were of illustrious descent were called illustres, speciosi, &c. Their number was not fixed. In the latter periods of the republic, property of the value of 400 sestertia was required for admission into it. The privileges of a knight or eques were, 1. to receive a horse from the state; 2. a gold ring (hence annulo aureo donari, i. e. to be made a knight); 3. angustus clavus, a narrow strip of purple on the tunic; 4. a particular seat on public occasions. At first, their duty was to serve the republic in war; but, at a later period, they became judges, and farmers of the public revenues. Caius and Tiberius Gracchus' wrested the right of being judges from the senate, and gave it to the equites. Some authors date the elevation of the equites to a third class at this period. Every fifth year, the censor held a review of the equites, on which occasion they passed before him, leading their horses. If any one of their number had been guilty of any offence, even if he had only neglected his horse, the censor ordered it to be sold, which was equivalent to degrading him from the order; hence adimere equum, to degrade a knight. Others, who had committed slighter offences, for which they were to be deprived of their rank, were omitted in the list, which was read aloud by the censor. The first on the list was called princeps. The farmers of the revenue were divided into classes, each having a president, called magister societatis: the members were called publicani. They were hated in the provinces.

EQUILIBRIST (from the Latin æquilibrium); ane who keeps his balance, in unnatural positions and hazardous movements. The equilibrist entertains the spectator by his artful motions, attitudes, leaps, &c. Every rope-dancer is an equilibrist. India is the native country of equilibrists; and the accounts given by travellers of the Indian balancers border on the incredible. The French, too, are distinguished as equilibrists. Such performers are met with in all the large cities of Europe and America. The equilibrists

are frequently also buffoons, jugglers, conjurers, &c.

EQUINOCTIAL, in astronomy; a great circle of the sphere, under which the equator moves in its diurnal motion. It is the same as the celestial equator. (See Equator.)

EQUINOCTIAL GALES; storms which are observed generally to take place about the time of the sun's crossing the equator or equinoctial line, at which time there is equal day and night throughout the world.

EQUINOCTIAL POINTS are the two points wherein the equator and ecliptic intersect each other: the one, being in the first point of Aries, is called the vernal point; and the other, in the first point of Libra, the autumnal point.

Under

EQUINOX is that time of the year when the day and night are equal: the length of the day is then 12 hours; the sun is ascending 6 hours, and descending the same time. This is the case twice a year, in the spring and in autumn, when the sun is on the equator. When the sun is in this situation, the horizon of every place is, of course, divided into two equal parts by the circle bounding light and darkness; hence the sun is visible every where 12 hours, and invisible for the same time in each 24 hours. (See Day.} The vernal equinox marks the beginning of spring, the autumnal that of autumn: at all other times, the lengths of the day and of the night are unequal, and their difference is the greater the more we approach either pole, and in the same latitude it is every where the same. the line, this inequality entirely vanishes: there, during the day, which is equal to the night, the sun always ascends 6 hours, and descends 6 hours. In the opposite hemisphere of our earth, the inequality of the days increases in proportion to the latitude: the days increase there, while they diminish with us, and vice versa. The points where the ecliptic comes in contact with the equator are called equinoctial points. The vernal equinoctial point was formerly at the entrance of the constellation of Aries; hence the next 30 degrees of the ecliptic, reckoned eastward from it, have been called Aries; but this point long ago deserted the constellation of Aries, and now stands under Pisces; for it is found by observation, that the equinoctial points, and all the other points of the ecliptic, are continually moving backward, or westward; which retrograde motion of the equinoctial points is what is called the precession of the

equinoxes. (See Precession.) It appears from the result of calculations, that the path of either of the poles is a circle, the poles of which coincide with those of the ecliptic, and that the pole will move along that circle so slowly as to accomplish the whole revolution in about 25,791 years, nearly. The diameter of this circle is equal to twice the inclination of the ecliptic to the equator, or about 47 degrees. Now, as the ecliptic is a fixed circle in the heavens, but the equator, which must be equidistant from the poles, moves with the poles, therefore the equator must be constantly changing its intersection with the ecliptic. And from the best observations, it appears, that the equator cuts the ecliptic every year 50 seconds .25 more to the westward than it did the year before; hence the sun's arrival at the equinoctial point precedes its arrival at the same fixed point of the heavens every year by 20 minutes 23 seconds of time, or by an arc of 50 seconds .25. Thus, by little and little, these equinoctial points will cut the ecliptic more and more to the westward, till, after 25,791 years, they return to the same point.

EQUISETUM; a genus of plants, belonging to the Linnæan class cryptoga

mia.

The species are very common in wet places, and are commonly called horse-tails. The fructification is in terminal oval or conical heads, composed of peltate scales; the seeds numerous and very minute; the stem simple or branched, striate, and composed of articulations, each surrounded at base with a scarious sheath, which is toothed on the margin; the branches are verticillate and destitute of leaves. Five species are natives of the U. States, all common to the Eastern continent. The E. hyemale (shave-grass or scouring rush) has a remarkably rough stem, and is used for polishing wood, ivory, and the metals; for this purpose, a piece of iron wire is introduced into the hollow of the stem, which is then rubbed against the substance under operation. The asperity of the cuticle is owing to its containing a proportion of silex. Being a rare plant in England, it is imported into that country in considerable quantities from Holland, and is an article of commerce in other parts of Europe: the value of that exported from the Rhone is estimated at nearly $2000 annually. We are not aware that this plant has been found very abundantly at any particular locality in the U. States, though it occurs sparingly throughout a great portion of the Union. EQUITY. We call that, in a moral sense,

equity, which is founded in natural justice, in honesty, and in right, ex æquo et bono. So, in an enlarged view (as Mr. Justice Blackstone has observed, 3 Comm 429), “equity, in its true and genuine meaning, is the soul and spirit of all law; positive law is construed, and rational law is made by it. In this, equity is synonymous with justice; in that, to the true and sound interpretation of the rule." Hence Grotius has defined it to be the correction of that, wherein the law, by reason of its generality, is deficient. It is applied to cases which the law does not exactly define, but which it submits to the sound judgment of the proper interpreter, arbitrio boni viri permittit. In this sense, equity must have a place in every rational system of jurisprudence; if not in name, at least in substance. It is impossible, that any code, however minute and particular, should embrace or provide for the infinite variety of human affairs, or should furnish rules applicable to all of them. Every system of laws must necessarily be defective; and cases must occur, to which the antecedent rules cannot be applied without injustice, or to which they cannot be applied at all. It is the office, therefore, of a judge, to consider whether the antecedent rule does apply, or ought, according to the intention of the lawgiver, to apply to a given case; and, if there be two rules, nearly approaching to it, but of opposite tendency, which ought to govern; and, if there exist no exact rule applicable to all the circumstances, whether the party is remediless, or the rule furnishing the closest analogy ought to be followed. The general words of a law may embrace all cases; and yet it may be clear that all could not have been intentionally embraced; for, if they were, it would defeat the obvious objects of the legislation. So words of doubtful import may be employed, and of a more or less extensive meaning. The question, in such cases, must be, in what sense the words were used; and it is the part of a judge to look to the objects of the legislature, and to give such a construction of the words as will further those objects. He is not at liberty to set aside the law, but to expound it. Custos non conditor juris, juvare, supplere, interpretari, mitigare jus civile potuit; mutare vel tollere non potuit (Taylor's Elements of Civil Law, ̃214). This is an exercise of equitable construction. It is the administration of equity. Hence arises a variety of rules of interpretation of laws according to their nature and operation, whether they are remedial

or penal, or restrictive of general right, or in advancement of public justice. But this is not the place to consider those rules, or the application of them in different systems of law. In the law of England and the U. States, equity has a different and more restrained meaning. We 'distinguish our remedies for wrongs, or for the enforcement of rights, into two classes-those which are administered in courts of law, and those which are administered in courts of equity. The rights secured by the former are called legal; those secured by the latter are called equitable. The former are said to be rights and remedies at common law, because recognised and enforced in courts of common law. The latter are said to be rights and remedies in equity, because they are administered in courts of equity or chancery, or by proceedings in other courts analogous to those in courts of equity or chancery. Now, in England and America, courts of common law proceed by certain prescribed forms, and give a general judgment for or against the defendant. They entertain jurisdiction only in certain actions, and give remedies according to the particular exigency of such actions. But there are many cases in which a simple judgment for either party, without qualifications and conditions, and particular arrangements, will not do entire justice, ex æquo et bono, to either party. Some modification of the rights of both parties are required; some restraints on one side or the other; and some peculiar adjustments, either present or future, temporary or perpetual. Now, in all these cases, courts of common law have no methods of proceeding, which can accomplish such objects. Their forms of actions and judgment are not adapted to them. The proper remedy cannot be found, or cannot be administered to the full extent of the relative rights of all parties. Such prescribed forms of actions are not confined to our law. They were known in the civil law; and the party could apply them only to their original purposes. In other cases, he had a special remedy. In such cases, where the courts of common law cannot grant the proper remedy or relief, the law of England and of the U. States (in those states where equity is administered) authorizes an application to the courts of equity or chancery, which are not confined or limited in their modes of relief by such narrow regulations, but which grant relief to all parties, in cases where they have rights, ex æquo et bono, and

modify and fashion that relief according to circumstances. The most general description of a court of equity is, that it has jurisdiction in cases where a plain, adequate and complete remedy cannot be had at law; that is, in the common law courts. The remedy must be plain; for, if it be doubtful and obscure at law, equity will assert a jurisdiction. So it must be adequate at law; for, if it fall short of what the party is entitled to, that founds a jurisdiction in equity. And it must be complete; that is, it must attain its full end at law; it must reach the whole mischief and secure the whole right of the party, now and for the future; otherwise equity will interpose, and give relief. The jurisdiction of a court of equity is sometimes concurrent with that of courts of law; and sometimes it is exclusive. It exercises concurrent jurisdiction in cases where the rights are purely of a legal nature, but where other and more efficient aid is required than a court of law can afford, to meet the difficulties of the case, and ensure full redress. In some of these cases, courts of law formerly refused all redress; but now will grant it. But the jurisdiction having been once justly acquired at a time when there was no such redress at law, it is not now relinquished. The most common exercise of concurrent jurisdiction is in cases of account, accident, dower, fraud, mistake, partnership and partition. The remedy is here often more complete and effectual than it can be at law. In many cases falling under these heads, and especially in some cases of fraud, mistake and accident, courts of law cannot and do not afford any redress; in others they do, but not always in so perfect a manner. court of equity also is assistant to the jurisdiction of courts of law, in many cases, where the latter have no like authority. It will remove legal impediments to the fair decision of a question depending at law. It will prevent a party from improperly setting up, at a trial, some title or claim, which would be inequitable. It will compel him to discover, on his own oath, facts which he knows are material to the right of the other party, but which a court of law cannot compel the party to discover. It will perpetuate the testimony of witnesses to rights and titles, which are in danger of being lost before the matter can be tried. It will provide for the safety of property in dispute pending litigation. It will counteract and control, or set aside, fraudulent judgments. It will exercise,

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