Equity: case-by-case justice ? Conclusion

From Antiquity to the present day, fairness has had a rival in the field of justice: "epieikeia". Theorized by Aristotle, it consists of "a corrective of the law within the limits where it is lacking because of its universality"(Nicomachean Ethics V 1137 b 26) : it is the corrective that the legislator himself would have made if he had had to settle the particular case before the judge. Does this definition also apply to equity/" aequitas" ? This final lecture will answer this question - which will enable us to distinguish these notions more clearly - before concluding with texts by two Roman jurists. Through the metaphor of the ship (Paul, Digest 14.2.2) and the balance (Modestin, Digest 42.1.20), these texts enable us to grasp images of " aequitas " and also the beauty of the work of jurists, who through language seek to respond to the desire for justice.