From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Chancery \Chan"cer*y\, n. [F. chancellerie, LL. cancellaria,
from L. cancellarius. See {Chancellor}, and cf.
{Chancellery}.]
1. 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]
2. In the Unites States, a court of equity; equity;
proceeding in equity.
[1913 Webster]
Note: 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.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
chancery
n 1: a court with jurisdiction in equity [syn: {chancery},
{court of chancery}]
2: an office of archives for public or ecclesiastic records; a
court of public records
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