Elusive: equity is a notion that seems to defy definition. Yet the young Cicero, then a student of rhetoric, tried to squeeze equity into a network of notions, drawing a map of the "parts of law". Following the topography he establishes in De Inventione (2.65-68; cf. 2.160-162), a good orator should be able to find arguments to persuade judges, taking equity as his compass. But Cicero's map is highly complex, because it is part of a broader, philosophical theory, within which equity is linked to the virtue of justice. And the virtue of justice in turn expands into a conception of man in society, a true anthropology, without which the idea of justice remains hollow.
To find our way through Cicero's topography of law, we need a guide. Jean-Louis Ferrary has offered us the most persuasive reading, which will also form the basis of our interpretation. This lecture is also an opportunity to pay tribute to this great scholar, who passed away last year (May 5, 1948 - August 9, 2020), and whose works continue to enlighten us.
