Court of Chancery

The Court of Chancery was the English court of equity, sitting in England and Wales until it was dissolved in the 1870s. It dealt with matters that the common law courts handled badly or not at all, including trusts, land law, the estates of people judged of unsound mind and the guardianship of infants, and it could grant remedies such as specific performance and injunctions that the common law courts long could not. It grew out of the work of the lord chancellor, who as Keeper of the King's Conscience judged cases by conscience rather than strict rule. The court became independent of the royal council in the mid-14th century and its judicial business expanded sharply in the 15th. From Elizabethan times it was criticised for delay, backlogs and cost, and the Supreme Court of Judicature Acts of 1873 and 1875 merged it into the High Court of Justice, where the Chancery Division carries on its work.