Chancery
in law, a court having special defined power. The English Court of Chancery was the highest court of judicature next to the House of Lords. The Lord Chancellor presided in this court, having under him the Lords Justices and Vice-Chancellors, who acted for him in separate courts, and the Master of the Rolls, who had the keeping of all the rolls and records of the Court of Chancery, and also presided in a court of his own. The Court of Chancery was a court of equity. Under the Judicature Act of 1873 the powers and jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery were transferred to the High Court of Justice, and it now exists as the chancery division of that court.
In the United States it is a court hav ing equity jurisdiction. American courts of equity are, in some instances, distinct from those of law; in others, the same tribunals exercise the jurisdiction both CHANNEL ISLANDS of courts of law and equity, though their forms of proceeding are different in their two capacities. The Supreme Court of the United States, and the Circuit Courts, are invested with general equity powers, and act either as courts of law or equity.