Court of Chancery

The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales. It followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible harshness of the common law. It had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the estates of lunatics and the guardianship of infants. The Court was formally led by the LordChancellor, assisted by the judges of thecommon law courts.

About Court of Chancery in brief

The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales. It followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible harshness of the common law. It had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the estates of lunatics and the guardianship of infants. From the time of Elizabeth I onwards the Court was severely criticised for its slow pace, large backlogs, and high costs. Those problems persisted until its dissolution, despite being mitigated somewhat by reforms, particularly during the 19th century. Attempts at fusing the Court with common law courts began in the 1850s and finally succeeded with the 1873 and 1875 Supreme Court of Judicature Acts. The High Court of Justice, with the Chancry Division – one of three divisions of the High Court – succeeding the Court ofChancery as an equitable body, was formed in 1875. It is now the only national equitable body in the English legal system. The earliest reference to legal issues being sent to him is from 1280, when Edward I of England, annoyed with the number of cases coming to him, passed a statute that all petitions which touch the Seal of the Crown shall come to the Justices of the Exchequer; those which touch justices or the land, or those Jews, which touch Justices or Justices to the law of the land; and those who touch the Lord Chancellor and those in charge of the foreign office, or the Lords of the Admiralty.

The Court was formally led by the LordChancellor, assisted by the judges of thecommon law courts. The staff of the court included a large number of clerks, led. by the Master of the Rolls, who regularly heard cases on his own. In 1813 a Vice-Chancellor was appointed to deal with the Court’s increasing backlogs and two more were appointed in 1841. The 19th. century saw the abolition of many sinecure offices and the institution of a wage and pension for the Lord chancellor to curb the sale of offices, and later the right to appoint officials was transferred from the Chancellor to the Crown. It soon became apparent that it was too unwieldy to deal. with the nation’s day-to-day business. As a result, a smaller curia was formed to deals with the regular business of the country, and this soon split into various courts: first the exchequer of finance, and then the court of Common Pleas, with cases dealing with ex-pleas. The Chancary started as the personal staff of Lord Chancellor, described as a great secret office, a home office, and a ministry of justice, a foreign office. It became independent of the curia regis in the mid-14th century, at which time it consisted of the Lord. Chancellor and his personal staff, the ChANCery. It experienced an explosive growth in its work during the 15th Century, particularly under the House of York, and became an almost entirely judicial body.

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