Definition
A Latin term meaning "equal" or "even." Used in legal instruments, particularly wills and testamentary documents, to indicate that a distribution is to be made on equal terms among designated recipients. When a testator directs that the residuary estate be divided ex æquus among legatees, the phrase operates as a directive for equal or ratable division — each legatee receives an identical share.
The term appears in Latin legal formulae and is not generally found in modern drafting practice, having been displaced by plain-English equivalents such as "equally" or "in equal shares."
Common Confusion
Zequus and æquus are the same word, separated only by printing convention. The ligature æ was frequently set as z in early modern and nineteenth-century typography, particularly in American legal publishing. A researcher who encounters "zequus" in a digitized source and treats it as a distinct Latin term — rather than a rendering of "æquus" — risks misreading the instrument or authority in question. Neither form carries independent legal significance; both direct the reader to the concept of equality in distribution.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering zequus in historical wills, probate records, or equity pleadings should treat it as a functional synonym for "equally" or "in equal shares" within the instrument. The interpretive question it raises is not definitional but distributional: courts interpreting such language have had to determine whether ex æquus directs per capita division, per stirpes division, or some other allocation method. The phrase is a trigger for deeper analysis of testamentary intent, not a self-executing formula.
The term belongs to a family of Latin maxims and words embedded in equity and chancery practice. Because zequus derives from the same Latin root as æquitas (equity) and æqualis (equal), historical sources sometimes treat the concepts interchangeably in passing. Researchers should be alert to variant spellings in older printed sources — æquus, aequus, and zequus all appear, the last being an artifact of typographical conventions that rendered the ligature æ as z in some period printing.
This typographical point is significant for corpus searches. A full-text search for "zequus" in digitized historical legal documents may return hits that were intended as "æquus" — a Latin adjective with a broader range of meanings including "fair," "just," "level," and "impartial" — not merely "equal" in the arithmetic sense. Researchers should cross-search both forms.
The single case cited in Black's — Archer v. Morris — is a New Jersey equity decision and reflects the chancery tradition in which Latin residual-division language was routinely construed. Probate and equity records from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are the most likely contexts in which a researcher will encounter this term.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) provides the only direct entry in the Law Mind corpus. The entry is brief and definitional: zequus means "equal; even," and the residuary-division context is supplied by a single New Jersey equity citation. Black's does not address the broader Latin usage of æquus in Roman law or its appearance in equity maxims, which is a notable gap.
The entry immediately following zequus in Black's is ZERA (or ERA), a wholly unrelated term. Their adjacency is purely alphabetical and reflects the typographical rendering of æ as z discussed above — a reminder that the organization of historical legal dictionaries can mislead researchers about conceptual relationships.
No other source dictionary in the Law Mind corpus carries a standalone entry for this term, which itself signals the word's narrow functional role: it appears in instruments, not as a term of art with doctrinal weight.