pari passu

To share equally. Use of the term pari passu indicates an equality, equal proportionality or absence of preference in the context of competing interests to an asset. For instance, those competing interests may be the collective interests of unsecured creditors participating in a winding up of a company; the equality of rights in respect to a fund by investors; or the entitlement of the members of a class of beneficiaries to share an asset under a will.

[Latin: with, by or at an equal step]

Usage: The unsecured creditors ranked pari passu with the general body of creditors in the liquidation.

Related Words: per capita; per stirpes; mutatis mutandis.