chancery

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: chan=cer=y

CIDE DICTIONARY

chancery, n. [F. chancellerie, LL. cancellaria, from L. cancellarius. See Chancellor, and cf. Chancellery.].

•  In England, formerly, the highest court of judicature next to the Parliament, exercising jurisdiction at law, but chiefly in equity; but under the jurisdiction act of 1873 it became the chancery division of the High Court of Justice, and now exercises jurisdiction only in equity.  [1913 Webster]
•  In the Unites States, a court of equity; equity; proceeding in equity.  [1913 Webster]

  " A court of chancery, so far as it is a court of equity, in the English and American sense, may be generally, if not precisely, described as one having jurisdiction in cases of rights, recognized and protected by the municipal jurisprudence, where a plain, adequate, and complete remedy can not be had in the courts of common law. In some of the American States, jurisdiction at law and in equity centers in the same tribunal. The courts of the United States also have jurisdiction both at law and in equity, and in all such cases they exercise their jurisdiction, as courts of law, or as courts of equity, as the subject of adjudication may require. In others of the American States, the courts that administer equity are distinct tribunals, having their appropriate judicial officers, and it is to the latter that the appellation courts of chancery is usually applied; but, in American law, the terms equity and court of equity are more frequently employed than the corresponding terms chancery and court of chancery."  Burrill.  [1913 Webster]

Inns of chancery. See under Inn. -- To get (or to hold) In chancery (Boxing), to get the head of an antagonist under one's arm, so that one can pommel it with the other fist at will; hence, to have wholly in One's power. The allusion is to the condition of a person involved in the chancery court, where he was helpless, while the lawyers lived upon his estate.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

chancery, n. (pl. -ies)
1 Law (Chancery) the Lord Chancellor's court, a division of the High Court of Justice.
2 hist. the records office of an order of knighthood.
3 hist. the court of a bishop's chancellor.
4 an office attached to an embassy or consulate.
5 a public record office.
6 US a court of equity.

Idiom

in chancery sl. (of a boxer or wrestler) with the head held under the opponent's arm and being pummelled.

Etymology

ME, contracted f. CHANCELLERY

THESAURUS

chancery

appellate court, archives, assizes, booking office, box office, branch, branch office, cabinet, chambers, chancellery, chancery court, circuit court, civil court, closet, common-law court, conciliation court, consulate, corporate headquarters, county court, court of appeals, court of assize, court of chancery, court of claims, court of conscience, court of equity, court of errors, court of honor, court of inquiry, court of probate, court of record, court of requests, court of review, court of sessions, court of wards, criminal court, den, district court, divorce court, embassy, equity court, executive office, family court, files, headquarters, home office, hustings, hustings court, juvenile court, kangaroo court, legation, main office, mock court, moot court, night court, office, police court, prize court, probate court, register office, registry, sessions, shop, study, superior court, ticket office, traffic court