equityeq‧ui‧ty /ˈekwəti/ noun 
Word Origin
a society run on the principles of equity and justice2[uncountable] technical the amount of money that you would have left if you sold your house and paid off the money you borrowed to buy the house3equities [plural] technical shares in a company from which the owner of the shares receives some of the company’s profits rather than a fixed regular payment4[uncountable] law the principle that a fair judgment must be made in a situation where the existing laws do not provide an answer
Word OriginWORD ORIGINequity
ExamplesOrigin:
1300-1400 French équité, from Latin aequitas, from aequus; ➔ EQUAL1EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
word sets- All human beings want to be treated with equity and respect.
- It seems to us to contravene all normal rules of equity that they should be able to behave in this fashion.
- Its domestic equity funds account for only $ 13 billion of its $ 145 billion in assets under management.
- Reflection on the basic rationale of equity investment, that is.
- San Francisco-based Schwab returned 30 percent on shareholders' equity, up from 29 percent a year ago.
- Shareholders and creditors agree to restructure debts and payment schedules and, often, to swap debt for riskier equity.
- The rankings were based on return on equity.
- These ownership forms are generally reflected by a simpler method of presentation of the equity section.
- Trading was comparatively light in both currency and equity markets, but the collapse in confidence seemed widespread.
WORD SETS► Finance
Collocationsabove the line, adjectiveabsorption rate, acceptance sampling, accountant, nounaccount balance, accounting, nounaccounting rate of return, accrued cost, accrued income, accumulation unit, acid ratio, actual price, A/D, adjustable peg, nounADR, nounadvancer, nounAER, aftermarket, nounAGI, aging schedule, agio, nounAICPA, allottee, nounallowable, adjectivealternative investment, amortizable, adjectiveannual earnings, annual income, annual value, annuity, nounappraiser, nounappropriate, verbappropriation, nounappropriation account, arb, nounas at, prepositionas of, prepositionasset, nounasset backing, asset shuffling, nounasset stripping, nounasset-stripping, verbasset turnover, asset value per share, Association for Payment Clearing Services, nounassured value, at best, adverbat call, adverbaudit, verbauditor, nounauditor's report, auto-financing, adjectiveaverage stock, backdate, verbbackup withholding, nounbackwardation, nounbad debt recovery, bail-out, nounbalanced fund, balance sheet, nounBaltic Exchange, nounbankroll, nounbase rate, nounbasis point, bed-and-breakfasting, nounbellwether, nounbelow the line, adjectivebeneficial owner, best efforts, adjectivebeta coefficient, nounbid and asked, adjectivebill rate, Black Friday, nounBlack Thursday, nounBlack Tuesday, nounBlack Wednesday, nounblank transfer, bond, nounbond fund, bond premium, bookbuilding, nounbook debt, book entry, book-keeper, nounbook-keeping, nounbottom fisher, nounbought deal, bourse, nounbreakeven, nounbreak-up value, buildings and contents insurance, buoy, verbbuoyancy, nounbuoyant, adjectivebusiness angel, nounbusiness entity, business manager, buyback, nounbuy-in, nounbuying power, buying price, buy limit order, buy order, buyout, nouncabinet bid, callable, adjectivecallable fixture, nouncap and collar, nouncapital appreciation, capital asset pricing model, capital charge, capital dilution, nouncapital equipment, capital flow, nouncapital gain, capital invested, nouncapitalization of reserves, nouncapitalize, verbcapitalized, adjectivecapital movement, nouncapital outlay, capital rationing, nouncapital stock, capital sum, capital surplus, capital transfer, capital value, CAR, carried down, adjectivecarried forward, adjectivecarried over, adjectivecarryback, nouncarryforward, nouncarrying charge, carry-over, nouncash account, cash at bank, nouncash basis, nouncashbook, nouncash column, cash equivalent, cash flow, nouncashless, adjectivecash management, cash price, CBOT, c/d, certificate of deposit, nouncertificate of occupancy, nouncertified public accountant, nounCFO, chain of title, nounChapter 7, nounChartered Financial Consultant, nounchartist, nounchattels real, nounChicago Board Options Exchange, nounChicago Mercantile Exchange, nounChinese wall, nounchurning, nounCISCO, nounclawback, nounclean opinion, nounclearer, nounclearing agent, nounclosed-end, adjectiveclosely held, adjectiveCMA, CME, COGS, collection ratio, Comex, nouncomfort letter, commercial agent, common ownership, company doctor, company limited by guarantee, nouncompany limited by shares, nouncomparables, nouncomparable-store sales, compensate, verbcompensating error, completion date, compound, verbcompound annual rate of return, nouncompound interest, nouncomptroller, nounComptroller and Auditor General, nounComptroller General, nounComptroller of the Currency, nouncompulsory purchase order, concert party, nounconsistency concept, nounconsolidated accounts, consolidator, nounConsols, nouncontango, nouncontinuous inventory, contra account, contra-asset account, contract note, controller, nouncontrol period, conversion premium, cooling-off period, nounco-operative society, corporate investment, cost, verbcost of goods sold, nouncounting-house, nouncoupon sheet, nounCPA, nounCPI, cramdown, nouncredit, nouncredit, verbcredit card payment, credit facility, creditor turnover rate, nouncredit quality, credit repair, credit standing, credit status, creeping control, CREST, nouncurrency pair, nouncurrency peg, nounDaily Official List, nounday book, nounday order, dead cat bounce, death futures, debt capital, debt ratio, decliner, noundeed of conveyance, noundeferred credits, noundeferred income, deferred share, degearing, noundeleverage, noundelinquent tax certificate, delivery date, demand note, dematerialize, verbdemonetize, verbdemutualize, verbdenominated, adjectivedeposit certificate, depository institution, deposit protection fund, noundepreciable life, depreciation account, deprival value, derivative lease, direct exchange, direct investment, direct labour, directors register, discount brokerage, discount loan, discretionary account, discretionary order, discretionary spending, diversifieds, noundivestment, nounDJIA, dollar-cost averaging, noundollars-and-cents, adjectivedomestic investment, double declining balance, double-witching, noundown payment, noundowntick, nounDPS, drawdown, noundrawing account, dual capacity, noundual listing, due, adjectivedue diligence, earn, verbEasdaq, nouneconomic, adjectiveeffective rate, emissions unit, encash, verbequity, nounequity investment, ERM, nounerror of commission, nounerror of omission, nounerror of posting, nounerror of principle, nounethical investment, Euribor, nounEuro.NM, nounEuropean interbank offered rate, exceptionals, nounexchange arbitrage, exchange of contracts, nounex gratia, adjectiveexpense ratio, expiration date, face amount, factor cost, factoring, nounfailure, nounfair value, fand, nounFederal funds, fee absolute, nounfigure, nounfinal accounts, final distribution, finance charge, Financial Accounting Standards Board, nounfinancial investment, financials, nounfinancial services, financial supermarket, financial year, nounfinancier, nounfirst in, first out, nounfirst-quarter, adjectivefixed assets, nounfixed costs, nounfixed-income investment, fixed investment, fixtures and fittings, nounfloater, nounflood insurance, flowback, nounflow of funds, nounfocus list, foreign investment, freehold possession, free movement, nounfriends, nounfront-running, nounfull-year, adjectivefully-subscribed, adjectivefunder, nounfungible, adjectivefutures, nounfuture value, FY, G & A, gainer, noungilts, nounGinnie Mae, nounGLOBEX, nounGNMA, noungolden share, golds, noungood-faith money, government investment, greenshoe, noungross, adjectivegross income, gross investment, group accounts, grubstake, nounguaranty, nounhealth warning, nounhigh end, nounhigh flyer, nounhigh-yield, adjectiveHip, nounholding, nounholding company, nounholdout, nounhomeowner's insurance, home repair, household insurance, idle balance, imprest, nouninactive account, incentive fee, income and expenditure account, income share, incubator space, index-linked, adjectiveindirect exchange, industrials, nouninherit, verbinheritance, nouninjection, nounIN.SECTS, nouninstitutional investment, interest cover, International Monetary Fund, nounInternational Securities Exchange, nouninvest, verbinvestment, nouninvestment income, investor, nouninvestor resistance, issuance, nounissue flop, nounissuer, nounkerb market, key money, large-cap, nounlast in, first out, nounlast sale, leaseback, nounleasehold possession, ledger, nounledger clerk, legal investment, lending rate, nounletter of comfort, nounleverage, verblifecycle cost, LIFO, like-for-like, adjectiveliquidity, nounliquid ratio test, loading, nounloan-to-value ratio, London Clearing House, nounM & A, management charge, mandatory general offer, margin account, market order, material fact, nounmature, adjectivematurity, nounmid-cap, nounMMC, mortgage protection insurance, multiple (share) application, municipals, nounNational Market System, nounNational Savings Stock Register, nounNBV, net, adjectivenet, verbnet 10/eom, adverbnet 30, adverbnet annual value, net asset backing, net asset value, net book value, net income, net interest, net investment, net present value, net realizable value, nominal accounts, nominal price, nominal value, non-payment, nounnon-recurring, adjectivenote issuance facility, NPV, NTA, number-cruncher, nounOEIC, offer for sale, nounoff-market, adjectiveon demand, adverbopen interest, nounopen-market, adjectiveopen outcry, nounoperating income, option, nounoption premium, option pricing model, options contract, order-driven, adjectiveorigination, nounoutflow, nounoutturn, nounoutward investment, overallotment, nounoverborrow, verboverbought, adjectiveovercapitalized, adjectiveovergeared, adjectiveoverissue, nounoverlend, verboverseas investment, overtrade, verbowner-operator, nounP&L, packager, nounpaperchase, nounpar value, pass-through, nounpawn, verbpayables, nounpay and file, nounpaying agent, payout ratio, PDR, pension fund, nounpension plan, nounPE ratio, performance guarantee, permission to build, nounpersonal investment, petrodollars, nounPink Sheets, nounplanning application, plat book, pledgee, nounplot plan, pooling of interests, nounpork bellies, nounportfolio, nounpoundage, nounppd., prelease, verbpremium bond, nounpresale, nounprice-sensitive, adjectiveprimary share, prime-1, nounprime tenant, principal, nounprivate company, private income, nounprivate investment, privately-owned, adjectiveprivate placing, proceeds, nounprofit-taking, nounpro-forma, adjectivepro-forma invoice, prompt date, prompt note, property, nounproperty investment, pro rata, adjectiveprorate, verbpublic investment, publicly-held, adjectivepurchase journal, nounpurchases account, purse, nounp.w., quote-driven, adjectiveramping, nounrandom walk, nounratable, adjectiverateable value, rate of return, nounrating agency, real, adjectivereal accounts, real estate investment, realization concept, nounrebound, verbreceiver, nounreceivership, nounrecoup, verbrecuperate, verbred ink, nounredlining, nounrefunding, nounRegional Stock Exchange, nounregistered stock, REIT, nounremarket, verbREMIC, nounremit, verbremittance, nounrent, verbrental, nounrent-free, adjectiverepatriate, verbrepurchase agreement, research manager, reserve requirement, reserves, nounresidual value, resource, verbresults, nounretainer, nounretirement plan, nounreturn, verbreturn, nounrevenue, nounreverse share split, risk analysis, nounrisk profile, ROA, root of title, royalty payment, ruin, verbsale and repurchase agreement, sales account, sales budget, sales charge, sales returns account, salvage value, nounsame-store sales, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, nounsaving, nounSavings and Loan Association, nounSEATS, nounsecondary shares, second-tier share, securities house, security rating, self-dealing, nounself-liquidating, adjectiveSETS, nounsettlement date, settling day, nounshare application, share exchange offer, share manipulation, share split, shark repellent, nounshelf registration, Ship, nounshort-covering, nounshort-term gain, sinking fund, nounsiphon, verbsliding peg, nounsmall-cap, nounSOX, nounspeculate, verbspeculation, nounspeculative, adjectivespeculative investment, squeeze, verbstk., stockbrokerage, nounstock count, nounstockholding, nounstock parking, nounstock valuation, stop order, straight line, adjectivestructural analysis, sublet, verbsubsidize, verbsubsidy, nounsubvention, nounsum of the digits, nounsundries account, super voting rights, sustainability index, swaption, nounsystematic risk, technical analysis, technical analyst, technical correction, technicals, nountenant at sufferance, nountenant at will, nountenant for years, nountenant in common, nounterm, nountippee, nountipper, nountip sheets, nountotal, verbtrading loss, trading profit, transfer, verbtransfer agent, transfer register, trigger point, triple-A, adjectivetriple-witching, nountrue and fair view, nountrust, nountrust company, trustee, nountrusteeship, nountrust fund, nounturnover ratio, undercapitalized, adjectiveundercharge, verbunderfunded, adjectiveunder-investment, noununderreport, verbundervalued, verbunderwriting power, unearned income, ungeared, adjectiveunitize, verbunit of account, noununsystematic risk, upfront fee, uptick, nounvault cash, vendor placing, Wall Street, war chest, nounweak, adjectiveworking capital, nounwrite-off, nounwritten-down value, yield spread, yield to call, nounyield to maturity, nounYTD, YTM, zaitech, nounZ-score, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE► negative
1[uncountable] formal a situation in which all people are treated equally and no one has an unfair advantage OPP inequity: · The risk of another plague of negative equity in the highly-priced areas must now be significant.· Those with negative equity clearly benefit from higher prices, but many others gain from lower ones.· Dave Escott bought at the height of the boom, and any back rent will only add to his negative equity.
► new· Even before the securities houses announced their decision, the advantages of issuing new equity had slumped along with the Nikkei.· No new equity was issued in 1992 to fund operations, and neither is any assumed in our forward plans.· But when that new equity fell through, all prices collapsed to around 20%.· It is the second time in under a year that the packaging and printing giant has issued new equity for big acquisitions.· Many City pundits believe that new debt to equity ratios indicate how confident companies are about investments.
► personal· The income is tax-free because your units are held in a personal equity plan.· Sales of unit trusts and personal equity plans declined by 63 percent to 36 million pounds.· It seems that personal equity plans are here to stay - even if not in the form that Nigel Lawson intended.· The public can also apply for shares in the international offer through, for example, a personal equity plan.· On Homestar and Homestar Ideal, there is a 5% security alarm discount. Personal equity plan.· The company will be managed so that the ordinary shares will qualify for inclusion in a general personal equity plan.
► private· There is tremendous scope for MBOs to create value, both for parent companies and private equity investors.· She said the listing in the bankruptcy filing sounded like a private equity partnership, but she would not discuss the investments.· The new funding includes Pounds 3m from the private equity arm of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, the investment bank.· The private equity financing niche that has been growing the fastest is buyout and acquisition funds.· Financial buyers, flush with cash from their private equity funds, could be interested in Superdrug.· The company already has raised more than $ 250 million in private debt and equity offerings.
NOUN► analyst· Only yesterday, or so it seems, Wall Street equity analysts almost unanimously acclaimed a new economic paradigm.· In the meantime, gold equity analysts expect more volatility in gold stocks.
► capital· He prefers to borrow rather than raise outside equity capital and thus dilute control.· These companies have very high demands for equity capital to finance their growth and generally pay no dividends or very low dividends.· Taken together, they may be applied jointly to produce a better estimate of the cost of equity capital.· Its required return on equity capital is 15 percent.· Additionally, as will be seen in Chapter 13, the cost of debt is lower than the cost of equity capital.· The equity comparison operates by comparing the equity capital issued as consideration by the purchaser to that previously in issue.· This measurement is generally accepted as the cost of the retained earnings portion of equity capital.
► department· The equity department was planning a boat trip to become further acquainted with the trainees on its short list.· The equity department weathered not only rough seas but rejection as well.· Companies had long been the domain of commercial bankers and the corporate finance and equity departments of investment banks.· We at Salomon, as I have said, relegated the equity department to a corner in our basement.· The risk was that I would offend the equity department, which would then try to have me fired.· The equity department seemed desperately backward.· By the cruel light of morning, the equity department indeed appeared once again to be pimply and gross.· We were invited to play in a softball game between the Salomon equity department and one of its largest clients.
► finance· However, companies generally show a preference for equity finance if it is possible.· Colin Amies, electronics industry adviser at Midland Bank, says that obtaining equity finance is often more important.· Perhaps the most important issue here concerns the extent to which OFIs are involved in equity finance.· In the case of equity finance, an investor provides a company with cash in exchange for shares in the company.· In no country does equity finance contribute substantially.· The agreement will also deal with the fees and expenses payable to the institutional providers of equity finance and the professional advisers.
► financing· The flight to quality by investors has made equity financing prohibitively expensive for all but the soundest of companies.· The possibility of equity financing depends on the state of the equity market.· Conventional corporate finance leads us to believe that debt financing is usually cheaper than equity financing.· The choice between debt and equity financing is determined by a further set of considerations.· In the long term we are looking for a measure of the relationship between debt financing and equity financing.· However, there was a major shift away from equity financing of acquisitions after the Stock Market crash of 1987. 2.
► funds· The initial charges on the umbrella fund are 5.75% for equity funds and an annual 1.75% for the Templeton Emerging Markets Fund.· Financial buyers, flush with cash from their private equity funds, could be interested in Superdrug.· So far, his portfolio is in the top 25 percent of equity funds, he said.· Its domestic equity funds account for only $ 13 billion of its $ 145 billion in assets under management.· For equity funds, the final column provides 52-week returns based on market prices plus dividends.· Despite the strong performance of equity funds in the quarter, it may not be reason enough to break out the champagne.
► home· Consumers will see lower rates on home equity loans and adjustable rate mortgages.· But paying down your mortgage leaves less money, so establish a home equity line of credit first.· Arrangements can be made, for example, to pay off the state through a home equity loan, he said.· How loan scams operate How homeowners get in over their heads with home equity loans: 1.· FinancingA lender, often working in concert with the contractor, arranges financing through a home equity loan.· He could retain $ 75, 000 in home equity, plus a car valued at $ 1, 900.
► investment· Reflection on the basic rationale of equity investment, that is.· The rankings only measure equity investments and exclude firms with less than $ 100 million under management.· International equity investment in local stock exchanges could also support renewable energy projects.· Genentech said it can keep a 25 percent equity investment in the company.· Both offer a choice of direct equity investment and unit trust investment up to the maximum £2,400.· In addition, the holding company for Janssen made an equity investment in NanoSystems.· For example, a basic rate taxpayer currently receives a net dividend distribution of £75 on his equity investment.· As he showered and got dressed, he wondered what Antonio Cellini would want in return for his equity investment.
► investor· The equity investors will always seek certain specific warranties.· The equity investors will set out as conditions the terms and assumptions upon which their investment will be made.· How do the needs of long-term lenders differ from those of equity investors?· There has to be an underlying business attractive to equity investors.· There is tremendous scope for MBOs to create value, both for parent companies and private equity investors.
► issue· Although bank loans are a vitally important source of finance, this is not to the complete exclusion of equity issues.· She will be gone, and she thinks the equity issues she has raised will disappear with her.· International equity issues are all the rage.· It is no secret that Zeneca would have liked to launch a straight forward international equity issue, to increase its receipts.
► loan· He put her on to Mortgage Business, a company which offers high equity loans for the self-employed.· Consumers will see lower rates on home equity loans and adjustable rate mortgages.· Arrangements can be made, for example, to pay off the state through a home equity loan, he said.· FinancingA lender, often working in concert with the contractor, arranges financing through a home equity loan.
► market· You invest in the equity market to provide yourself with a stream of future dividends which will hopefully outpace inflation.· There is widespread concern about the effects of the financial futures market on the equity market.· On the whole, shares in privatized companies have underperformed the rest of the equity market.· Certainly that is what yesterday's steep sell-off in the equity markets may suggest.· One is that the equity market, whether for warrants issues or straight equity, is more or less closed.· Then, the government's determination to support the equity market became clear.· This is not uncommon and it has occurred with many of the privatization issues in the equity market.
► partner· Even at this early design stage, Ogilvy and Mather had come into the project as equity partner and future tenant.
► plan· The income is tax-free because your units are held in a personal equity plan.· Sales of unit trusts and personal equity plans declined by 63 percent to 36 million pounds.· There are thousands of victims of those home income equity plans.· It seems that personal equity plans are here to stay - even if not in the form that Nigel Lawson intended.· The public can also apply for shares in the international offer through, for example, a personal equity plan.· The company will be managed so that the ordinary shares will qualify for inclusion in a general personal equity plan.
► portfolio· At current Nikkei levels, analysts believe most banks already have implicit losses on these equity portfolios.
► price· Falling equity prices will work the same way, except in reverse.· The rosy outlook for equity prices over the near-term meshes with my bullish forecast for 30-year Treasury bonds.· One possible explanation stems from the impact of the fall in equity prices on both stocks in the last quarter of 1987.· Rising equity prices hurt bonds by tempting some investors to shop for better returns in the stock market.· Such warrants offer the potential for sizeable capital gains if equity prices rise.· It has been suggested that such a speculative bubble may have been responsible for the rapid rise in equity prices in 1987.· This suggests that the fall in equity prices in October 1987 may have been no more than a correction to the market.
► ratio· Many City pundits believe that new debt to equity ratios indicate how confident companies are about investments.· UniChem said its debt-to-equity ratio would rise to 95 percent at the end of 1996.· The new company will actually have a lower debt-to-equity ratio than Enron, Barone said.
► security· The capital market also encompasses the market for equity securities.
► share· Types of takeover offer General offer A general offer is an offer for the entire issued equity share capital of a company.· The assets are actively managed and represent a wide spread of fixed interest stocks, U.K. and overseas equity shares and property.· This is usually enshrined in the Articles by attaching the right of appointment to the investors' equity shares.· They may not deal in equity shares nor in securities convertible into equity shares.· They must be prepared to offer an equity share in their business.· The net proceeds from the issue of equity shares and warrants for equity shares should be credited directly to shareholders' funds.
► shareholder· The impact of these has been to reduce the stated value of shareholders equity in the balance sheet.· The Amsterdam Stock Exchange threatened to scratch its listing after the company reported its shareholder equity had turned negative.· Mildara has a stated objective of obtaining an annual return of 15 % on shareholder equity.· After its shareholder equity turned negative last year, parent Dasa started picking up the bills.
► stake· This has resulted in several of the unlisted equity stakes being valued at a big discount to the quoted investments.· Lockheed Martin will hold a 20 percent equity stake in Loral Space.· Terms of the acquisition of the product line and equity stake were not revealed.· Gengold operates a total of 11 mines under management contracts and holds equity stakes in each.· About 65 percent of Gold Fields' earnings are from dividends paid by gold mines in which it has equity stakes.· Rockefeller would retain its 50 percent equity stake in Embarcadero Center.· As part of labor concession agreements with other airlines, the Airline Pilots Association has sought an equity stake in USAir.· The 49-percent equity stake commands 71 percent of voting rights.
► strategist· And the weakness in transportation issues could be bad news for the Dow Jones Industrial Average as well, said equity strategists.
VERB► hold· The income is tax-free because your units are held in a personal equity plan.· Lockheed Martin will hold a 20 percent equity stake in Loral Space.· But she holds 50 percent equity in the business so I don't think that worried her too much.· Gengold operates a total of 11 mines under management contracts and holds equity stakes in each.· Forte already holds 68.36% of the equity and has rights to 42.12% of the group's total votes.· Some of the top stocks are held by thousands of equity funds, because they are very good stocks to own.
► increase· It will also increase its equity base and consequently improve its gearing and its ability to borrow further.· But we believe there are ways to use choice and competition to increase the equity in our school system.· Answer guide: Record an asset in the bank and increase the owner's equity.· And we believe passionately that increased equity is not only right and just, but critical to our success as a nation.
► raise· Companies already listed on the Stock Exchange have two basic methods of raising additional equity capital: 1.· Proposals of this magnitude inevitably raise serious equity and class questions that need to be addressed.· The institutions say they intend to raise the equity weighting in their portfolios from under 10% to perhaps 15% by the mid-1990s.· They may wish to raise additional equity capital but want to retain voting control.· Where environmental protection measures raise questions of equity in international trade, these should be recognised and discussed.
► return· The workforce has been slashed from 410,000 to below 300,000. Return on equity has averaged nearly 19% a year.
► sell· Andersen will issue and sell new shares, while Graseby will also sell some of the equity held in the Specac firms.· Instead of going public, the firm could sell more equity to big investors.· Mazda began trimming its sales channels in 1992, when it sold additional equity in the Autorama network to Ford.· Even if it did need to raise more capital, it could always sell more equity to big institutional investors.
a society run on the principles of equity and justice2[uncountable] technical the amount of money that you would have left if you sold your house and paid off the money you borrowed to buy the house3equities [plural] technical shares in a company from which the owner of the shares receives some of the company’s profits rather than a fixed regular payment4[uncountable] law the principle that a fair judgment must be made in a situation where the existing laws do not provide an answer