Aequitas

This article is about the legal concept. For the Canadian stock exchange, see Aequitas Neo.

Aequitas (genitive aequitatis) is the Latin concept of justice, equality, conformity, symmetry, or fairness.^[1] It is the origin of the English word "equity".^[2][3] In ancient Rome, it could refer to either the legal concept of equity,^[4] or fairness between individuals.^[5]

Aequitas on the reverse of this antoninianus struck under Claudius II. The goddess is holding her symbols, the balance and the cornucopia.

Cicero defined aequitas as "tripartite": the first, he said, pertained to the gods above (ad superos deos) and is equivalent to pietas, religious obligation; the second, to the Manes, the underworld spirits or spirits of the dead, and was sanctitas, that which is sacred; and the third pertaining to human beings (homines) was iustitia, "justice".^[6]

During the Roman Empire, Aequitas as a divine personification was part of the religious propaganda of the emperor, under the name Aequitas Augusti,^[7] which also appeared on coins.^[8] She is depicted on coins holding a cornucopia and a balance scale (libra),^[9] which was more often a symbol of "honest measure" to the Romans than of justice.^[10]