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THE COURT OF CHANCERY
Is celebrated as a manufactory of suits which generally last a very long time. The best method to obtain one is to get a legacy left you by a lawyer; for gentlemen who have been engaged as attorneys and solicitors have either so great a regard for their profession, or so great a fear of it, that they usually contrive to leave plenty of employment for those who follow them. Persons who have had Chancery suits describe them as rather unpleasant, being as difficult to get out of as a pair of wet leather breeches.
Punch, Jan.-Jun. 1842
The Lord Chancellor's Court, or High Court of Chancery, is, after Parliament,
the highest court in the Kingdom. It is not a court of law, but, strictly
speaking, a court of equity; and is held during term in Westminster Hall, out of
term the Lord Chancellor sits in Lincoln's Inn Hall; but in cases of pressing
necessity, when no regular sittings are held, grants injunctions, and disposes
of other matters at his private residence. In the Court of Chancery all causes
or suits, as they are called, are determined not upon viva voce evidence
but upon affidavit; the ground of their maintenance being, that a plaintiff is
incapable of obtaining relief at Common Law.
The Rolls - The Master of the Rolls is keeper of the Rolls or
Records. His court, in Chancery-lane is also a court of equity, but appeals
against his Honour's decision may be made to the Lord Chancellor.
The Vice-Chancellor's Court, established in aid of the Lord
Chancellor's court in 1813, is in Lincoln's Inn, but in term time his Honour
sits in Westminster Hall.
Mogg's New Picture of London and Visitor's Guide to it Sights, 1844
ROLLS HOUSE and CHAPEL, CHANCERY LANE. A place where the rolls and records of the Court of Chancery are kept, from the reign of Richard III. to the present time. The Master of the Rolls sits in the Rolls House in vacation time. Salary of the Master, 7000l. a year. ... A new Record Office to contain the whole of the Records of the kingdom is about to be built, it is understood, on the Rolls estate. A good Record Office is much needed.
Peter Cunningham, Hand-Book of London, 1850