court of chancery

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Related to courts of chancery: Courts of equity

court of chancery

n. pl. courts of chancery

A court with jurisdiction in equity.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Noun

court of chancery - a court with jurisdiction in equity

chancery

court, judicature, tribunal - an assembly (including one or more judges) to conduct judicial business

References in classic literature ?

The nature of a court of equity will readily permit the extension of its jurisdiction to matters of law; but it is not a little to be suspected, that the attempt to extend the jurisdiction of the courts of law to matters of equity will not only be unproductive of the advantages which may be derived from courts of chancery, on the plan upon which they are established in this State, but will tend gradually to change the nature of the courts of law, and to undermine the trial by jury, by introducing questions too complicated for a decision in that mode.

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(55) It was not until approximately 1726 or 1727 when a drastic shift in equity began and the Gordon statute (the Act) established official courts of chancery. (56) This was the beginning of the second period of equity in Delaware, which was in the purview of their new chancery courts.

Equity run amuck: the necessary reevaluation of the preliminary injunction standard to reflect modern day legal realities - a comparison of the Massachusetts and Delaware noncompete agreement preliminary injunction standard

It was intended, with its infamous ``Jarndyce and Jarndyce'' case, to illustrate the evils caused by long, drawn out suits in the Courts of Chancery.