CHANCERY, Corny op, in England. Besides the functions pertaining to the chan cellor in other countries, the chancellor of England had early assigned to him the office of a judge; and the English C. consequently became a court of law, the peculiar charac ter of which will be rendered intelligible by the following considerations: In assigning judicial functions to the chancellor's department, it was not intended that it should inter• fere with that other department of government which has everywhere been distinguished both from the legislative and the executive—viz., the judicial. But in all departments, according to the imperial theory from which the idea of the C. at least was derived, the sovereign was supreme, and to his will, or to his sense of justice, there was consequently an appeal in judicial, as in other matters. His chancellor, however, was his adviser in all matters whatsoever; and thus, though not a judge in the stricter sense, it is manifest that his counsel, in judicial matters of the highest importance, would constantly be called in. But further, the king governed by laws, even before he was governed by them; and for the sake of order and his own convenience, he would naturally add to or supplement the law which he had established, only where it could be shown to him that it did not meet the substantial justice of the particular case. He would con sequently be a judge, not of the interpretation or application of the law, which he would leave to his ordinary judges, but of its adequacy to circumstances which had changed, or had not been anticipated; and when he interfered, it would be to some extent in the character of a legislator, as well as of a judge. The king would thus be a judge in equity, in the poptilar and intelligible sense of that word; and acting in this capacity himself, it would be in this capacity that he would call in the aid of his chan cellor. It is not mysterious, then, how in early times the court of C. came to he a court of equity; and the chief difficulty regarding its oriain seems to attach to the other of the two great departments into which it is divided, and in which it exercises jurisdiction as a court of common law. But as the free constitution of England developed itself, it soon became apparent that equity, in the old despotic or patriarchal sense—in which it was not so much the administration as the making or modifying of j law—was consistent with its principles, whether it proceeded from a judge or from the monarch himself. The popular sense of equity was consequently abandoned; and a technical unknown to the.jurisprudenee of every other Dation, was given to it.
The proceedings of the court of C. "on its equity side," which had hitherto been a mere supplement to law, came now to be hedged in by rules and precedents as closely as those of any court of common law. What henceforth continued to be the distinction in prin ciple between law and equity, or between the functions of the courts of common law and the court of C., or even of the two great departments of this court itself, it is perhaps impossible to state. The arbitrary line which has been drawn between the class of
cases assigned to the one set of courts and to the other, will be considered under EQUITY.
The judicial duties of the chancellor have long been shared by the master of the rolls, an officer of high rank, who was originally appointed only for the superintendence of the writs and records appertaining to the common law departments of the court, but who was accustomed also to sit as a separate though subordinate judge on the equity side. The disputes which bad arisen regarding his powers were set at rest by 3 Geo. If. c. 30, which declares that all orders made by him, except such as by the course of the court are appropriated to the great seal alone, shall be valid, subject nevertheless to be discharged or altered by the lord chancellor, and so as that they shall not be enrolled till they are signed by his lordship. By 3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 94, the master's powers are further increased, and he may now hear motions, pleas, and demurrers, as well as causes generally. The salary of the master of the rolls (q.v.) is £6,000 a year. The vast increase of business, and the still greater increase of arrears, during the previous half century, rendered it necessary, in 1813 (53 Geo. HI. c. 24), to appoint another assistant to the chancellor, under the title of the vice-chancellor of England; and in 1841, when the equity business of the exchequer was transferred to the C., two more "vice-chancel lors were added. Each of these judges sits separately from the lord chancellor, and their functions extend to both depIrtinents of the court. Their salaries are 1'5,000 a year. Another important addition (14 and 15 Viet. c. 83) was that of the lords justices of the court of appeal for all courts. This court consisted of the lord chancellor, together with these judges; but the lords justices, when sitting without the chancellor, possess the same jurisdiction which belongs to him, and their existence does not prejudice his right to sit alone. The lords justices possess the same authority in matters of lunacy as the chancellor; and they, sitting together, constitute, without the chancellor, the court of appeal in bankruptcy. An appeal, which may also be entertained by the lord chancellor sitting alone, lies to this court from all the separate courts of the chancery division; and from this appellate jurisdiction there is an appeal in turn to the house of lords. The lords justices may also take up original causes, though these, in prac tice, are mainly confined to the divisional courts of the high court. Till recently, cer tain parts of the equitable jurisdiction of the court of C. were confided to the masters in ordinary (see MASTERS IN CHANCERY) and the accountant general. The office of the masters has been abolished, but that of the accountant continues to be one of the most important connected with the court. Besides these more important officers, the court of C. has always had a large body of subordinates, registrars, taxing-masters, and a staff of record and writ clerks attached to it.