Aequitas sequitur legem
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 56 U.S. 281 - Magniac v. Thomson · 1853Most cited · 63 citing opinions
1.
That wherever the rights or the situation of parties are clearly defined and established by law, equity has no power to change or unsettle those rights or that situation, but in all such instances the maxim equitas sequiter legem is strictly applicable.
2.
That wherever there exists at law a complete and adequate power, either for the prosecution of a right or the redressing of a wrong, courts of equity, with the exception of a few cases of concurrent authority, have no jurisdiction or power to act.
How often courts cite the case defining “Aequitas sequitur legem”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “Aequitas sequitur legem” — 60 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.