text: Thank you also, Dennis, for your response above.   Sounds like you are a wonderful student, and a reliable classmate!  And it appears, at least to me, that you're getting a good grasp on what EQUITY is all about.  Our British forebears were instrumental in establishing a court system which mitigated the frequently harsh application of the law, which is why, even today, we speak of PRINCIPLES of equity which would, among other things, prevent a plaintiff, in a law court, from being unjustly enriched by a law court.  Plaintiffs in chancery courts are still called "petitioners," and His Majesty the King appointed his chancellor to oversee, preside and tweak as necessary.  Hence the name chancery courts.  Because certain nobles feared that the chancellor was acquiring too much power, the courts of law and equity were ultimately combined.  "Epikeia" is a sort of ecclesiastical counterpart in the Eastern Churches, which do NOT apply the "divine laws" of marriage with Western harshness.