Chancery law

“ But independently of this statute, upon the general principles of law and of equity jurisprudence, we are of opinion that we cannot grant the relief asked for. The plaintiff invokes the aid of the principle that all legal remedies having failed, the court of chancery must give him a remedy; that there is a wrong which cannot be righted elsewhere, and hence the right must be sustained in chancery. The difficulty arises from too broad an application of a general principle. ”

“ And whatever may be the wisdom of the change, through which the law has encroached on the jurisdiction of chancery, it has now gone too far to be confined within any limits short of the whole field of jurisprudence. ”

“ By the time of Lord Eldon equity had become fixed, and the judges, like their brethren in the common law courts, strictly followed the precedents. Henceforward chancery and common law courts have exhibited the anomaly of two co-ordinate sets of tribunals, empowered to deal with the same matters, and compelled to proceed in many cases on wholly different principles. The court of chancery could in most cases prevent a person from taking advantage of a common law right, not approved of by its own system. ”

“ Although it is true that in the practice of the English courts, and in those States of the Union where the fictitious action of ejectment is still in use, chancery will interfere where there have been repeated verdicts in favor of the same title to prevent further litigation, it is not true that chancery will interpose in favor of the unsuccessful party in the first trial, upon the sole ground that he has the legal title, and, therefore, ought to have succeeded in the action at law. ”

“ The demonstration of the unsoundness of the contention that courts of equity have claimed and exercised the power to suppress an answer, and thereupon render a decree pro confesso, which results from the foregoing review of the authorities, is strengthened by the reflection that, if such power obtained, then the ancient common-law doctrine of 'outlawry,' and that of the continental systems as to 'civil death,' would be a part of the chancery law,-a theory which could not be admitted without violating the rudimentary conceptions of the fundamental rights of the citizen. ”

“ If the assignee of the chose in action is unable to assert in a court of law the legal right of the assignor, which in equity is vested in him, then the jurisdiction of a court of chancery may be invoked, because it is the proper forum for the enforcement of equitable interests, and because there is no adequate remedy at law ”

“ Where there has been no change of circumstances between the parties, and no change with reference to the condition and value of the property, a court of chancery will run very nearly, if not quite, up to the measure of the statute of limitations, as applied in analogous cases in a court of law. ”

“ Admit, then, that the act requires the witnesses to subscribe their names, can a court of chancery require or permit it now to be done? There is no time limited, in which it must be done. The act does not, like the statute of wills, require it to be done at the time. Whenever done the terms of the law are satisfied. What is it that is asked?-that the requisitions of the act should be set aside? that merely fictitious names should be inserted, to present to the eye only a compliance with the statute? ”

“ I freely concede that if the state system of jurisprudence should invest the court of chancery with an ordinary common-law jurisdiction, as, for example, with jurisdiction of an action upon a promissory note, such cause, when removed to the federal court, would simply be placed on the common-law side, and be tried by a jury. ”

“ Whereas the characteristic award of the common law courts was seisin of land or monetary damages, Chancery often enjoined certain action. Because malicious suits were a problem, the Chancery identified such suits and issued injunctions against taking them to any court.
The Chancery was given jurisdiction by statute over men of great power taking by force women who had lands and tenements or goods and not setting them free unless they bound themselves to pay great sums to the offenders or to marry them. ”

“ No one, for instance, would hesitate to say that, according to the English chancery practice, a bill to enjoin a judgment at law is an original bill in the chancery sense of the word. Yet this court has decided many times that when a bill is filed in the circuit court to enjoin a judgment of that court, it is not to be considered as an original bill, but as a continuation of the proceeding at law ”

“ But no American charter will ever be decreed forfeited again; or if any should, the decree will authority to be derived from the English crown, including in the idea of it be regarded no more than a vote of the lower house of the Robinhood society. The court of chancery has no authority without the realm; by common law, surely it has none in America. What! the privileges of millions of Americans depend on the discretion of a lord chancellor? ”

“ The imperfect theories of the subject which are commonly adopted have generated errors of opposite sorts. Many writers of treatises on Equity, struck with the completeness of the system in its present state, commit themselves expressly or implicitly to the paradoxical assertion that the founders of the chancery jurisprudence contemplated its present fixity of form when they were settling its first bases. ”

“ The bill in chancery is a continuation of the litigation commenced by the action at law, and its object is to enjoin the judgment in that suit and to correct its injustice by an equity proceeding in the same court. ”

“ In matters judicial the field is far too vast to permit more than briefest mention of the most important lines of popular legislation. In the first place, common law and chancery jurisdiction are very generally fused and confounded. A few States still have chancellors entirely distinct from the common-law judges, and Massachusetts and a few other States still keep chancery terms and chancery procedure distinct from the common law. ”

“ It is very clearly shown that the total failure of ordinary remedies does not confer upon the court of chancery an unlimited power to give relief. Such relief as is consistent with the general law of the land, and authorized by the principles and practices of the courts of equity, will, under such circumstances, be administered. ”

“ To this there are two exceptions; first, the trial of cases in equity; and, secondly, of cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. These may be tried according to the forms of the English chancery court, or the English admiralty court, and without the intervention of a jury. In chancery, the true limit of judicial power is prescribed by the sixteenth section of the Judiciary Act of 1789. The equity powers begin where the common law powers end, in affording an adequate remedy. ”

“ Cum principalis causa non consistit, plerumque ne ea quidem quæ sequuntur locum habent.
When the main cause is not consistent, for the most part, not even the things which follow have a place.
Curia cancellaria contractibus in plenum redigendis favet.
The chancery court favours the entire reduction of contracts.
Curia cancellaria non nisi parliamento subdita.
The court of chancery is not subject, unless to the parliament. ”

“ While an action of assumpsit, although based on equitable principles is an action at law, the law is well settled that when the chancery court has jurisdiction of a case for one purpose, it will retain jurisdiction to settle the rights of the parties arising out of the subject matter. ”

“ Is the fact to be tried by chancery powers? I am bold to say that no issue of fact was ever tried or found, for or against, in chancery. Facts often were carried into chancery, as evidence, but if they were doubted of, issue was joined on them, and directed to be tried by a jury. But now the business unfolds itself. Now we see what gentlemen would be at It is to try facts on civil-law principles, without the aid of a jury, and this, I promise you, never will be submitted to. ”

“ No such power has ever yet been exercised by a court of chancery. The appointment of its own officer to collect taxes levied by order of a common-law court is as much without authority as to appoint the same officer to levy and collect the tax. ”

“ If he sues at law, resist and attempt to fight through the superior courts. When he finally obtains a judgment at law in your State, he will be compelled to resort to a suit in chancery for the purpose of selling the land. In either event he must come finally into a court of chancery and include the holders of these leases as parties defendant to his action. When this is done, the non resident lessees are not to appear, and he will be able to obtain service on them only by an order of publication. ”

“ Vexed as the question formerly was, and delicate as it now is, from the confusion in which numerous and conflicting decisions have involved it; no discussion of cases can be gone into without hazarding the introduction of exceptions that will be likely to sap the direct prineiple we intend to apply: indeed, the remedial power claimed by courts of chancery to relieve against mistakes of law, is a doctrine rather grounded upon exceptions, than upon established rules. ”

“ It may be, however, that the authors of the new system were too intent on uniformity when they abolished the common-law pleading, which, shorn of its abuses (as it had been by the Common Law Procedure Acts) , was an admirable instrument for defining the issue between the parties though unsuited for the more complicated cases which are tried in chancery, and it might possibly have been better to try the new system in the first instance in the chancery division only. ”

“ The equitable jurisdiction of the court of chancery was founded on the supposed superiority of conscience and equity over the strict law. The appearance of equity in England is in harmony with the general course of legal history in progressive societies. What is remarkable is that, instead of being incorporated with or superseding the common law, it gave rise to a wholly independent set of tribunals. ”

“ By this time the Court of Chancery, which at first professed to exercise that higher kind of justice called equity, was simply complicating land-conveyance, and multiplying the chances of a lawsuit arising out of any transfer of land. The "glorious uncertainty of the law" means the uncertainty of the law of Chancery.
↑ This referred to the famous Tyrrell's case decision: "An use cannot be engendered of an use." ”

“ And in the same statute the chancery arm is invoked, that is to say, if any person complain that a rioter or offender flee or withdraw himself, a bill issues from the chancery, and if the person do not appear and yield, a writ of proclamation issues that he be attainted, a more severe punishment than the six months' imprisonment usually meted out to our contemners. ”

“ The opinion, (whether a fee simple, or an estate for years) will not alter the nature of the judgment, which, in my opinion, will be only of such interest as the party had in the estate, and, if tried in ejectment, can only operate so far. I own, privately I was of opinion that an attachment ought to lie against a mortgagor's interest, because he is considered, in chancery, as the owner; because I would not send a man to chancery in so plain a case where there ought to have been conformity in law; and because all men would secure themselves under this artifice. ”

“ It is true that an ordinary chancery receiver is a mere arm of the court appointing him, is invested with no estate in the property committed to his charge, and is clothed with no power to exercise his official duties in other jurisdictions. ”

“ An Act to amend an Act to regulate certain Offices in the Petty Bag in the High Court of Chancery, the Practice of the Common Law Side of that Court, and the Enrolment Office of the said Court. The Petty Bag Act, 1849. ”