Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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Being in chancery presented a real threat to financial well-being. For an explanation of “in chancery” and its continuance into the 19th Century see this BBC link.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/beyond/factsheets/makhist/makhist3_prog1d.shtml
See also Charles Dickens’s novel ‘Bleak House’ and John Galsworthy’s ‘In Chancery’ (1920), part of the Forsyte Saga series, looking at the personal toll such legal action can take on the individual.
Another interesting reference is from dictionary.com, quoting Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary,
As recorded by Samuel Johnson:
” chancery n.s. [from chancellor; probably chancellery; then shortened]
The court of equity and concience,moderating the vigour of other courts, that are tied to the letter of the law; whereof the lord chancellor of England is the chief judge, or the lord keeper of the great seal Cowel”
a quote: ” The contumacy and contempt of the party must signified in the court of the chancery, by the bishops letters under the seal episcopal. ”
Ayliffe’s Parergon