Originally from Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

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Humans are hard-wired to place a premium on fairness and equitable treatment. By kindergarten we learn that treating others fairly is fundamental. Anyone with children close in age experienced this on a regular basis.

What may be an acceptable award or punishment for behavior becomes outrageous when a sibling in identical or comparable circumstances is treated more favorably. Parents early on learn the importance of instilling common notions of fairness into the value system which guides child behavior.

As the medieval common law evolved with separate courts of equity, the Chancellors of the English courts of equity honored the close nexus between equity and equality. Equity, however, focused on factual and legal differences and similarities. Unlawful discrimination, disparate treatment, and other legal doctrines mandate that to be aggrieved the claimants must be in the same group or class and similarly situated.