Delaware Court of Chancery

The Delaware Court of Chancery is the equity court of the State of Delaware. Its official site describes it as widely recognized as the nation's preeminent forum for the determination of disputes involving the internal affairs of the thousands of Delaware corporations and other business entities through which a vast amount of the world's commercial affairs is conducted. The court traces its origin to the second Delaware Constitution, adopted in 1792, which separated the equity jurisdiction exercised by the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas from common law jurisdiction and vested it in a Chancellor who holds Courts of Chancery in the counties of the State. A history essay published on the court's site marks its 200th anniversary in 1992 and contrasts it with the extinct English High Court of Chancery, observing that Delaware's court has kept the fundamental purpose of an equity court, to provide relief suited to the circumstances when no adequate remedy is available at law.