It is a right of a mortgagor to recover the pledged property after settling the mortgage debt. It is thus an equitable interest in land itself, and it denotes the sum total of the mortgagor’s right in the property. Equity recognises this fact and regards the mortgagor as owner of the mortgaged property but subject to the mortgage. It is a right, which a mortgagor has of redeeming the mortgaged estate after it has been forfeited at law by the non-payment at the time appointed for the money secured by the mortgage to be paid by paying the amount of the debt, interest and costs.
An equity of redemption is a mere creature of a court of equity founded on this principle that as a mortgage is a pledge for securing the repayment of a sum of money to the mortgagee. It is but natural justice to consider the ownership of the land as still vested in the mortgagor, subject only to the legal title of the mortgagee so far as such legal title is necessary to his security.
