Yes, Sun was a good place to look for a searchable version! (Doh).
And, indeed, the equals contract is not in the JLS.  I know it's in the
API for Object but am surprised it's not in the JLS.

The most relevant section of the JLS (3rd ed) is 1.3, which states:

   "As noted above, this specification often refers to classes of the
    Java and Java 2 platforms.  In particular, some classes have a
    special relationship with the Java programming language.  Examples
    include classes such as Object, Class, ClassLoader, String, Thread,
    and the classes and interfaces in package java.lang.reflect, among
    others.  The language definition constrains the behavior of these
    classes and interfaces, but this document does not provide a
    complete specification for them.  The reader is referred to other
    parts of the Java platform specification for such details API
    specifications."

In other words, the JLS doesn't define this.  Instead, the contract for
equals is specified in the API specification (also known informally as
api docs, or javadocs) for the Object.equals method.