Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

equity jurisdiction

At common law, the power to hear certain civil actions according to the procedure of the court of chancery, and to resolve them according to equitable rules. "[T]he term equity jurisdiction does not refer to jurisdiction in the sense of the power conferred by the sovereign on the court over specified subject-matters or to jurisdiction over the res or the persons of the parties in a particular proceeding but refers rather to the merits. The want of equity jurisdiction does not mean that the court has no power to act but that it should not act, as on the ground, for example, that there is an adequate remedy at law." William Q. de Funiak, Handbook of Modern Equity 38 (2d ed. 1956).