chancery

1 a court with jurisdiction in equity [syn: court of chancery]

2 an office of archives for public or ecclesiastic records; a court of public records

English

Etymology

chancellerie, cancellaria, from cancellarius. See chancellor, and chancellery.

Noun

chancery

1. In England, formerly, the highest court of judicature next to the Parliament, exercising jurisdiction at law, but chiefly in equity; but under the jurisdiction act of 1873 it became the chancery division of the High Court of Justice, and now exercises jurisdiction only in equity.
2. In the Unites States, a court of equity; equity; proceeding in equity.

Usage notes

A court of chancery, so far as it is a court of equity, in the English and American sense, may be generally, if not precisely, described as one having jurisdiction in cases of rights, recognized and protected by the municipal jurisprudence, where a plain, adequate, and complete remedy can not be had in the courts of common law. In some of the American States, jurisdiction at law and in equity centers in the same tribunal. The courts of the United States also have jurisdiction both at law and in equity, and in all such cases they exercise their jurisdiction, as courts of law, or as courts of equity, as the subject of adjudication may require. In others of the American States, the courts that administer equity are distinct tribunals, having their appropriate judicial officers, and it is to the latter that the appellation courts of chancery is usually applied; but, in American law, the terms equity and court of equity are more frequently employed than the corresponding terms chancery and court of chancery.

See also

• Inns of chancery
• to get in chancery or to hold in chancery ''(Boxing), to get the head of an antagonist under one's arm, so that one can pommel it with the other fist at will; hence, to have wholly in One's power. The allusion is to the condition of a person involved in the chancery court, where he was helpless, while the lawyers lived upon his estate. ''

Chancery may refer to:

• Court of equity, also called a chancery court
• Chancery hand, a name for multiple styles of historic writing
• The building that houses a curia of a diocese
• The building that houses a diplomatic mission, such as an embassy

See also

• Chancellery

appellate court, archives, assizes, booking office, box office, branch, branch office, cabinet, chambers, chancellery, chancery court, circuit court, civil court, closet, common-law court, conciliation court, consulate, corporate headquarters, county court, court of appeals, court of assize, court of chancery, court of claims, court of conscience, court of equity, court of errors, court of honor, court of inquiry, court of probate, court of record, court of requests, court of review, court of sessions, court of wards, criminal court, den, district court, divorce court, embassy, equity court, executive office, family court, files, headquarters, home office, hustings, hustings court, juvenile court, kangaroo court, legation, main office, mock court, moot court, night court, office, police court, prize court, probate court, register office, registry, sessions, shop, study, superior court, ticket office, traffic court