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England Chancery Court Records: Difference between revisions
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=== Chancery Court === | === Chancery Court === | ||
In early times it was the king in council who received the petitions from those subjects not satisfied by common law procedures, but by the end of the 15<sup>th</sup> century the ''chancellor, ''a leading member of the king's council had taken over this role. The Chancellor was often a bishop having no legal training but much common sense, and his ''chancery'' could sit anywhere and at any time; the procedures was a simple and informal thus quick and inexpensive. It was based on equity not common law and conducted entirely by English. | In early times it was the king in council who received the petitions from those subjects not satisfied by common law procedures, but by the end of the 15<sup>th</sup> century the ''chancellor, ''a leading member of the king's council had taken over this role. The Chancellor was often a bishop having no legal training but much common sense, and his ''chancery'' could sit anywhere and at any time; the procedures was a simple and informal thus quick and inexpensive. It was based on equity not common law and conducted entirely by English. | ||
Equity is a system of justice based on conscience and fairness rather than on the strict rules of common law. A decision ''in equity'' was one given in accordance with natural justice where the law did not provide adequate remedy, or in which its operation would have been unfair. After the Reformation lawyers tended to be appointed as chancellors and they regarded decisions in equity as precedents and thus equity soon became an organized system of rules as rigid as those of law. Chancery business became more rigid, slow and expensive because chancery clerks were paid fees not salaries, so the more paperwork they could generate the higher their income. However this system had benefits for the future genealogist with the volume of documents generated! Chancery is the court with more surviving records than any other. | Equity is a system of justice based on conscience and fairness rather than on the strict rules of common law. A decision ''in equity'' was one given in accordance with natural justice where the law did not provide adequate remedy, or in which its operation would have been unfair. After the Reformation lawyers tended to be appointed as chancellors and they regarded decisions in equity as precedents and thus equity soon became an organized system of rules as rigid as those of law. Chancery business became more rigid, slow and expensive because chancery clerks were paid fees not salaries, so the more paperwork they could generate the higher their income. However this system had benefits for the future genealogist with the volume of documents generated! Chancery is the court with more surviving records than any other. | ||
The system became so moribund during the early 19<sup>th</sup> century that reforms were made, culminating in the incorporation of chancery as simply a division in the new High Court of Justice in 1873-1875 and the empowering of judges to administer both law and equity. | The system became so moribund during the early 19<sup>th</sup> century that reforms were made, culminating in the incorporation of chancery as simply a division in the new High Court of Justice in 1873-1875 and the empowering of judges to administer both law and equity.<br> | ||
==== Content ==== | ==== Content ==== | ||
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Chancery Court records are held at [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk The National Archives]. | Chancery Court records are held at [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk The National Archives]. | ||
Anglo American Legal Tradition has digitized 1000s of the earliest cases on their [http://aalt.law.uh.edu/ChanPro.html free website]. | Anglo American Legal Tradition has digitized 1000s of the earliest cases on their [http://aalt.law.uh.edu/ChanPro.html free website]. | ||
==== Genealogical Value ==== | ==== Genealogical Value ==== | ||
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Coldham evinces that it is probably "a sufficient recommendation of the value of chancery records in a genealogical context to say that it is often possible to come across a five-generation pedigree not only compiled by contemporary litigants and witnesses but authenticated by a master in chancery."<ref>Coldham, Peter Wilson. "Genealogical Resources in Chancery Records," ''Genealogists’ Magazine,'' Part 1 in Vol. 19, No. 10 (1978):345-347; Part 2 in Vol. 20, No. 8, page 257-260.</ref> | Coldham evinces that it is probably "a sufficient recommendation of the value of chancery records in a genealogical context to say that it is often possible to come across a five-generation pedigree not only compiled by contemporary litigants and witnesses but authenticated by a master in chancery."<ref>Coldham, Peter Wilson. "Genealogical Resources in Chancery Records," ''Genealogists’ Magazine,'' Part 1 in Vol. 19, No. 10 (1978):345-347; Part 2 in Vol. 20, No. 8, page 257-260.</ref> | ||
Primary information about migration, marriage, births, deaths and kinship are all here. So also is evidence of their social relationships and aspirations, land ownership, business transactions and wealth or lack thereof. The court of chancery did not deal with criminal cases but did handle disputes arising from criminal cases. | Primary information about migration, marriage, births, deaths and kinship are all here. So also is evidence of their social relationships and aspirations, land ownership, business transactions and wealth or lack thereof. The court of chancery did not deal with criminal cases but did handle disputes arising from criminal cases. | ||
==== Chancery Calendars, Indexes and Abstracts ==== | ==== Chancery Calendars, Indexes and Abstracts ==== | ||