EQUIVALENT. Of the same value. Sometimes a condition must be literally¹ accomplished² in forma specifica; but some may be fulfilled by an equivalent, per oequi polens, when such appears to be the intention of the parties; as, I promise to pay you one hundred dollars, and then die, my executor may fulfil my engagement; for it is equivalent to you whether the money be paid to you b me or by him. Roll. Ab. 451; 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 760.

EQUIVOCAL. What has a double sense.

2. In the construction of contracts, it is a general rule that when an expression may be taken in two senses, that shall be preferred which gives it effect. Vide Ambiguity³; Construction; Interpretation⁴; and Dig. 22, 1, 4; Id 45, 1, 80; Id. 50, 17, 67.

EQUULEUS. The name of a kind of rack for extorting⁵ confessions⁶. Encyc. Lond.

ERASURE⁷, contracts, evidence. The obliteration⁸ of a writing; it will render it void or not under the same circumstances as an interlineation. (q. v.) Vide 5 Pet. S. C. R. 560; 11 Co. 88; 4 Cruise, Dig. 368; 13 Vin. Ab. 41; Fitzg. 207; 5 Bing. R. 183; 3 C. & P. 65; 2 Wend. R. 555; 11 Conn. R. 531; 5 M. R. 190; 2 L. R. 291 3 L. R. 56; 4 L. R. 270.

2. Erasures and interlineations are presumed to have been made after the execution of a deed, unless the contrary be proved. 1 Dall. 67; 1 Pet. 169; 4 Bin¹⁰. 1; 10 Serg. & R. 64, 170, 419; 16 Serg. & R. 44.

EREGIMUS. We have erected¹¹. In England, whenever the. right of creating or granting a new office is vested in the king, he must use proper words for the purpose, as eregimus, constituimus, and the like. Bac. Ab. Offices, &c., E.

EROTIC MANIA¹², med. jur. A name given to a morbid¹³ activity of the sexual propensity¹⁴. It is a disease or morbid affection of the mind, which fills it with a crowd of voluptuous¹⁵ images, and hurries its victim to acts of the grossest licentiousness¹⁶, in the absence of any lesion of the intellectual powers. Vide Mania.

ERROR. A mistake in judgment¹⁷ or deviation¹⁸ from the truth, in matters of fact and from the law in matters of judgment.

2. - 1 Error of fact. The law has wisely provide that a person shall be excused, if, intending to do a lawful¹⁹ act, and pursuing lawful means to accomplish his object, he commit an act which would be criminal or unlawful, if it were done with a criminal design or in an unlawful manner; for example, thieves break into my house, in the night time, to commit a burglary; I rise out of my bed, and seeing a person with a drawn²⁰ sword running towards my wife, I take him for one of the burglars, and shoot him down, and afterwards find he was one of my friends, whom, owing to the dimness of the light, I could not recognize, who had lodged²¹ with me, rose on the first alarm, and was in fact running towards my wife, to rescue her from the hands of an assassin; still I am innocent, because I committed an error as to a fact, which I could not know, and had, no time to inquire about.

3. Again, a contract made under a clear error is not binding²²; as, if the seller and purchaser of a house situated²³ in Now York, happen to be in Philadelphia, and, at the time of the sale, it was unknown to both parties that the house was burned down, there will be no valid²⁴ contract; or if I sell you my horse Napoleon, which we both suppose to be in my stable, and at the time of the contract he is dead, the sale is void. 7 How. Miss. R. 371 3 Shepl. 45; 20 Wend. 174; 9 Shepl. 363 2 Brown, 27; 5 Conn. 71; 6 Mass. 84; 12 Mass. 36. See Sale.

4. Courts of equity²⁵ will in general correct and rectify²⁶ all errors in fact committed in making deeds and contracts founded on good considerations. See Mistake.

5. - 2. Error in law. As the law is, or which is the same thing, is presumed to be certain and definite, every man is bound to understand it, and an error of law will not, in general, excuse a man, for its violation²⁷.

6. A contract made under an error in law, is in general binding, for were it not so, error would be urged in almost every case. 2 East, 469; see 6 John. Ch. R. 166 8 Cowen, 195; 2 Jac. & Walk. 249; 1 Story, Eq. Jur. 156; 1 Younge & Coll. 232; 6 B. & C. 671 Bowy. Com. 135; 3 Sav. Dr. Rom. App. viii. But a foreign law will for this purpose be considered as a fact. 3 Shepl. 45; 9 Pick. 112; 2 Ev. Pothier, 369, &c. See, also, Ignorance; Marriage; Mistake.

7. By error, is also understood a mistake made in the trial of a cause, to correct which a writ⁹ of error may be sued out of a superior court.