CHANCERY, formerly. the highest court of justice in. England, now consolidated with the other superior courts in the Supreme Court of Judicature.
The Court of Chancery obtained its name from being under the jurisdiction of the Lord Chancellor and its purpose was never more succinctly expressed than in Cowel and Jacob's Law Dictionary: "All the other justices in the Kingdom are tied to the law, but the Chan cellor bath the King's absolute power to mod erate the written law, govern his judgment by the law of nature and conscience, and order ing all things juxta (equum ct bonum. . . . He is not limited by the written law, but by conscience and equity, according to the cir cumstances of the matter." And in the words of King James I, °When the rigour of the law in many cases will undo a man, then the Chan cery tempers the law with equity, and so mixes mercy with justice, as it preserves a man from destruction." The jurisdiction of the court was therefore wide; and between it and the common lawyers a long struggle ensued. Its jurisdiction was inoperative in ordinary corn mon law cases, or in civil cases in which the common law courts could render adequate jus tice. The great objection of the common law practitioners was that the very extensive pow ers of the chancellor's court were exercised, not according to fixed rules of law, but at the discretion of the chancellor. In course of time, however, under a succession of able chancellors, the body of law administered by it became quite as fixed as the common law. Thus there came into existence the curious anomaly of two co-ordinate sets of tribunals adjudicating on the same matters on conflicting principles. It was thus .quite possible for a suitor to win in the Court of Chancery who had not the smallest chance of prevailing in the common law courts. In the caustic words of Lord Chancellor Westbury, one tribunal was set up to do injustice and another to stop it. The distinctive functions of the Court of Chan cery remained until the passing of the Judi cature Acts of 1873 and 1875. (See below). The Court of Chancery embraced six superior courts called high courts of chancery and nu merous inferior courts. The superior courts were the Court of the Lord High Chancellor, the Court of the Master of the Rolls; the Court of Appeal in Chancery, constituted by the Lord Chancellor sitting alone with either of the two lords justices in appeal or by the two lords jus tices sitting together apart from the Lord Chan cellor; and the courts of the three vice-chan cellors. The ordinary legal jurisdiction of chancery embraced the issuing of writs for a new Parliament; of pleas of scire facias to re peal letters patent, and of all original writs. There was also ajurisdiction acquired by stat ute or special delegation in issuing writs of habeas corpus and inquiring into charitable uses. There were numerous other powers con ferred by act of Parliament, and the Lord Chancellor, together with the lords justices of appeal, had exclusive authority over the per sons and property of idiots and lunatics. Ap peals in bankruptcy were heard by the Court of Appeal in Chancery. The sittings and busi ness of this court of appeal were regulated by the Lord Chancellor.
The procedure of this Court of Chancery at one time, by reason of its traditions and forms (commonly known as °red tape) became so cumbersome aspartially to defeat its own osten sible aims and rendered reform imperative.
Charles Dickens made a determined attack upon the delays of chancery practice in his 'Bleak House,' and subsequent changes have been commonly attributed to his influence.
The English Court of Chancery is now a di vision of the High Court of Justice, which is it self one of the two departments of the Supreme Court of Judicature in which are united all the higher courts of justice in England, exclusive of the appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords and the privy council. The present judges of chancery as a division of the High Court of Justice are the Lord Chancellor, who presides over the division, and six justices. According to the provisions of the act by which the Supreme Court of Judicature was es tablished, the distribution of business, both as to its commencement and its transfer, was made subject to rules of court and orders of transfer. By the operation of these provisions chancery, like the other divisions of the court to which it now belongs, was gradually to cease to be a separate department; but in the meanwhile, subject to these rules and orders, certain causes and matters were assigned to chancery until these provisions should take their full effect. These are enumerated in the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (36 & 37 Vict. c. 66, 34), and are (1) all causes and matters pending in the High Court of Chancery at the commencement of the act (finally fixed for 1 Nov. 1875) ; (2) all causes and matters to be commenced after the commencement of the act under any act of Parliament by which exclusive jurisdiction in respect to such causes or matters has been given to the Court of Chancery, or to any judges or. judge thereof, except appeals from County Courts; (3) administration of the estates of deceased persons; partnerships; mortgages; raising of portions or other charges on land; sale and distribution of the proceeds of prop-. erty subject to any lien or charge; trusts, char itable or private; rectification or setting aside or cancellation of deeds or other written in struments; performance of contracts between vendors and purchasers of real estates, includ ing contracts for leases; partition and sale of real estate; wardship of infants and the care of infants' estates. Chancery, as a division of the High Court of Justice, has no exclusive right to the administration of equity, the act already mentioned making provision under certain rules for the concurrent administration of law and equity in all the divisions of the Supreme Court of Judicature. The Court of Appeal in Chan cery no longer exists and its functions are transferred to the Court of Appeal, which in the new Supreme Court of Judicature is the complementary department of the High Court of Justice. The affairs of lunatics are still under the supervision of the Lord Chancellor. See also EQUITY.
In the United States the general tendency has been likewise to abolish courts of chancery as separate departments, and equity jurisdiction is generally conferred on the courts of law. Delaware, New Jersey and Tennessee are among the few States that still retain the for mer practice. .
In the Catholic Church the chancery denotes (1) the office in a diocese whence come those documents necessary for the exercise of episco pal power; (2) the office in Rome which drafts and expedites the bills or briefs by which the mind of the Pope is made known to Christen dom or to particular suitors.