Generation, Development And Institutionalization Of The Process Of Western Equity Theory

In ancient Greece period, people used "epieikeia" to indicate the connotationof equity while the Romans called it "aequitas". Equity, another measure standard,is different from the law but can supply and adjust the law. In English, equity hasthree meanings as follows: firstly, equity refers to the ideology of fairness andjustice. Secondly, equity is a special kind of method for the legal remedy whenthe law falls in rigidity and then cannot adapt to the need of society. Lastly,equity appeared in the13-14century in England，being a set of independentprinciple, norm and court system developed from justice’s juridical practice toremedy the deficiency of the common law.Equity ideology emerged in ancient Greece period. The theory of Platon andAristotle about the equity ideology wielded an important influence on theoccurrence of equity ideology. However, it was still in the embryonic stage andhad not ascended to the height of legal theory yet. It was not applied in judicialpractice as a set of legal thought until the ancient Rome times. Equity ideologywas first introduced into the ifeld of justice by the Romans. The law of RomeSupreme Judge was the most obviously reflection of the practice of equityideology. In medieval times, Christian ethics had a direct influence on thedevelopment of equity ideology. The word "conscience", originating from theChristian doctrine, was considered to be a fundamental judicial principle in judge’s adjudication. It was clear that the equitable idea in this period containedthe divine idea and had a religious color. The religious reformation of thesixteenth Century was a watershed between the divine equity ideology and humanequity ideology. Atfer the reformation，the religious color in equity ideologyfaded and the worldly morality added to it. As a result, the divine equity ideologygradually developed into human equity ideology. In nineteenth Century, theequity ideology has entered into a mature stage; meanwhile, equity ideology alsogradually trapped in ossification and entered a period of decline. In the end ofnineteenth Century and early twentieth Century, new natural law raised graduallyand injected fresh vitality into the development of equity theory, which contributeto solve the problem of natural law’s theory itself，adapt to the needs of socialdevelopment in the new era and lay the ideological and theoretical foundation forthe new development of equity theory.The age spirit of equity ideology should be mastered from the macroperspective of histoircal evolution. The idea should be rooted in history andreverted to judicial practice. Starting from the nature of equity ideology and thevalue of substantial justice, we should safeguard the social public interests inorder to achieve the purpose and function of the law. Equity ideology isconducive to the realization of social equity and justice, make up for the badinlfuence brought by bad laws, solve the inescapable rigidity problem for anynation’s law and be beneficial to improve the acceptability of the law, which has important practical significance for building a harmonious society. Doingresearch on the evolution of the equity ideology will be not only of great benefitto expand and strengthen the communication between China and the countries ofAnglo American in terms of economic, legal, culture and other aspects, but alsospeed up the pace of socialist modernization in China.