Chancery, Court of

Chancery, Court of The Chancery (cancellaria) began life as the royal secretariat during the Norman period. Its task was to draw up royal charters and writs under the authority of the great seal, which was in the possession of the chancellor. By the 14th cent. common law had become the ordinary law of the land administered through courts independent of the crown, yet the king retained the power to administer justice outside the regular system. Petitions were presented to the king in council asking for relief. However, by the end of the 14th cent. petitions began to be addressed to the chancellor direct and by the end of the 15th cent. he was sitting alone to hear them.

The rules of common law were bound by tradition and statute. The chancellor was not bound by such rigid procedures. The Chancery could sit anywhere, at any time. It was quick and inexpensive justice which especially benefited the poor and the weak. Business increased steadily and by the 16th cent. the court was overwhelmed with petitions.

The chancellor's form of justice acquired the name of ‘equity’. At first equity was not seen as a rival to common law, but resentment arose over the growth of Chancery business. In 1616, clashes over jurisdiction occurred between Coke, chief justice of King's Bench, and Chancellor Ellesmere. Gradually equity became bound by precedent and Chancery litigation became expensive and slow, often taking 30 years by the 19th cent. The backlog of cases grew acute under Chancellor Eldon (1801–27). The 1873 Judicature Acts reduced the Court of Chancery to a division of the new High Court of Justice and judges were empowered to administer both law and equity.

In Ireland a chancellor presided over a separate court of equity. In Scotland a chancellor existed from the 12th cent. and largely performed the same functions as his English counterpart. However, the chancellor became the chief administrator of law and not of a separate equitable system.