The Virginia Courts of Chancery were state courts with

equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

jurisdiction, which existed in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

from 1777 to 1875.

High Court of Chancery

The

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...

passed a law creating the High Court of Chancery during its October 1777 session. The Court met in the state capitol and was given jurisdiction over all

cases for the entire state of Virginia, including those pending at the time in the General Court. The High Court of Chancery could hear cases brought before it by original process or appeals from a lower court. Its decisions could be appealed to the

Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrativ ...

, and the High Court of Chancery could ask the General Court to give an opinion on a legal issue. On January 23, 1802, the General Assembly abolished the High Court of Chancery and replaced it with the Superior Courts of Chancery.

Chancellors of the High Court of Chancery

John Blair Jr. John Blair Jr. (April 17, 1732 – August 31, 1800) was an American Founding Father, who signed the United States Constitution as a delegate from Virginia and was appointed an Associate Justice on the first U.S. Supreme Court by George Washingt ...

: 1780-1788 * Robert Carter Nicholas, Sr.: 1779-1780 *

Edmund Pendleton Edmund Pendleton (September 9, 1721 – October 23, 1803) was an American planter, politician, lawyer, and judge. He served in the Virginia legislature before and during the American Revolutionary War, rising to the position of speaker. Pendleto ...

: 1777-1788 *

George Wythe George Wythe (; December 3, 1726 – June 8, 1806) was an American academic, scholar and judge who was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. The first of the seven signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence from ...

: 1777-1802

Superior Courts of Chancery

The Superior Courts of Chancery were created in 1802 to handle chancery matters initially handled by the High Court of Chancery. The state was divided into three chancery districts and cases from the counties composing the district were tried in a fixed location within each district. The records were kept in that location. Five additional districts were created before the court was supplanted by local Circuit Superior Courts of Law and Chancery in 1875. This court was sometimes called District Court of Chancery.Crawford (2014).

Notes

References

American National Biography Online
Oxford University Press. Accessed 3 July 2014. * * * * * *{{cite book, last1=Shepherd, first1=Samuel, title=The Statutes at Large of Virginia, date=1835 Legal history of Virginia Courts of equity 1777 establishments in Virginia 1831 disestablishments in Virginia Defunct state courts of the United States Courts and tribunals established in 1777 Courts and tribunals disestablished in 1831