Definition of Equity Jurisdiction
In a general sense, the jurisdiction belonging to a court of equity, but more particularly the aggregate of those cases, controversies, and occasions which form proper subjects for the exercise of the powers of a chancery court.
In the federal and most state courts there has been a merger procedurally between law and equity actions (i.e., the same court has jurisdiction over both legal and equitable matters) and, hence, a person seeking equitable relief brings the same complaint as in a law action and simply demands equitable relief instead of (or in addition to) money damages. Fed.R. Civil P. 2.
"Equity jurisdiction,” in its ordinary acceptation, as distinguished on the one side from the general power to decide matters at all, and on the other from the jurisdiction “at law” or “common-law jurisdiction,” is the power to hear certain kinds and classes of civil causes according to the principles of the method and procedure adopted by the court of chancery, and to decide them in accordance with the doctrines and rules of equity jurisprudence, which decision may involve either the determination of the equitable rights, estates, and interests of the parties to such causes, or the granting of equitable remedies. In order that a cause may come within the scope of the equity jurisdiction, one of two alternatives is essential; either the primary right, estate, or interest to be maintained, or the violation of which furnishes the cause of action, must be equitable rather than legal; or the remedy granted must be in its nature purely equitable, or if it be a remedy which may also be given by a court of law, it must be one which, under the facts and circumstances of the case, can only be made complete and adequate through the equitable modes of procedure. Norback v. Board of Directors of Church Extension Soc., 84 Utah 506, 37 P.2d 339.
That's the definition of Equity Jurisdiction in Black's Law Dictionary 6th Edition. Courtesy of Cekhukum.com.
