chanceryn.
/ˈtʃɑːnsəri//ˈtʃansəri/ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > holder of office > official of royal or great household > [noun] > chancellor > position of
chancelleryc1300
chancery1395
society > authority > office > holder of office > high officials of state > [noun] > Lord High Chancellor or Great Seal > position of
chancelleryc1300
chancery1395
chancellorship1473
woolsack1583
chancellorate1870
1395 J. Purvey Remonstr. (1851) 2 Seculer officis, that is, chauncerie, tresorie, privy seal, and other siche seculer officis in the chekir.
1580 C. Hollyband Treasurie French Tong La Chancelerie, the Chancerie.
1591 R. Percyvall Bibliotheca Hispanica Dict. at Chancilleria A chauncellorshippe, the chauncerie.
a1658 J. Cleveland Rustick Rampant in Wks. (1687) 410 The Bishop shall give them an Account of the Profits of his Chancery.
2.
a. The court of the Lord Chancellor of England, the highest court of judicature next to the House of Lords; but, since the Judicature Act of 1873, a division of the High Court of Justice.It formerly consisted of two distinct tribunals, one ordinary, being a court of common law, the other extraordinary, being a court of equity. To the former belonged the issuing of writs for a new parliament, and of all original writs. The second proceeded upon rules of equity and conscience, moderating the rigour of the common law, and giving relief in cases where there was no remedy in the common-law courts. Its functions in this respect are now transferred to the Court of Appeal.In Ireland the Court of Chancery was distinct from, but analogous in character to, the English court; but it has been similarly changed into a division of the Irish High Court of Justice.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > judicial body, assembly, or court > [noun] > high court > court of chancery
chancery1377
High Court of Chancery?1564
chancery-court1594
1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. iv. 46 In Esscheker and Chauncelrie.]
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. iv. 28 In þe cheker and at þe chauncerie.
1489–90 in T. Stapleton Plumpton Corr. (1839) 91 Whereof, I have a dedimus potestatem out of the Escheker, & another out of the Chauncre.
1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique 56 b A manne should appele from the common place to the chauncerie.
1659 T. Fuller Appeal Iniured Innocence i. 11 Thomas Lord Coventry, when coming from the Chancery to sit down at Dinner, was wont to say, ‘Surely, to day I have dealt equally, for I have displeased both sides.’
1701 London Gaz. No. 3724/4 S. Keck Esq.; a Master in the High Court of Chancery.
a1763 W. Shenstone Wks. (1768) II. 168 True honour is to honesty, what the court of chancery is to common law.
1782 J. Priestley Hist. Corruptions Christianity II. ix. 189 The writ..was issued from the chancery.
1853 C. Dickens Bleak House ix. 83 There never was such an infernal cauldron as that Chancery, on the face of the earth!
1874 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera IV. 287 Gridley's real name was Ikey—he haunted Chancery.
1876 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest V. xxiii. 135 Under the Conqueror we see the first beginnings of that class of clerks of the King's chapel or chancery who had so large a share in the administration of the kingdom.
1889 N.E.D. at Chancery Mod. The heiress is a ward in Chancery.
b. Applied to similar courts elsewhere; in U.S. ‘a court of equity’ (Webster).‘In imitation of the High Court of Chancery in England, various local courts of equity have sprung up in the British dominions and dependencies. Some of these are called Courts of Chancery..In each of the counties palatine of Lancaster and Durham, and in Ireland, there is a court so named, which dispenses the same equity within the limits of its jurisdiction, as the High Court of Chancery.’ Penny Cycl. s.v.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > judicial body, assembly, or court > [noun] > courts in U.S.
General Court1628
county court1639
praetorial1639
precinct court1669
supreme bench1767
Supreme Court1787
justice court1793
oyer and terminer1840
circuit-court1843
chancery1850
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 241 Auditour of the courte of the Chauncerie in Valladolith.
1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ vi. iii. 5 Lubeck, wher..their prime Chancery is still.
1780 W. Coxe Acct. Russ. Discov. 5 The government is vested in the chancery of Bolcheresk, which depends upon and is subject to the inspection of the chancery of Ochotsk.
1850 Burrill in Webster's Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. (1890) In some of the American States, jurisdiction at law and in equity centers in the same tribunal..In others..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 courts of equity are more frequently employed.
c. Scotland. An office in the General Register House, Edinburgh (formerly called Chancellary n.0), in which is kept a record of all writs relative to crown lands; also of crown charters of incorporation; commissions or gifts of office from the crown; service of heirs, general and special; and all writs appointed to pass the great or the quarter seal. From it are issued, in the sovereign's name, brieves of inquest regarding idiotcy or insanity, and letters of tutory and curatory.Established by James I on his return from his English captivity 1424, and apparently intended to be a court on the model of the English Chancery. But it was never completely organized, and after the complete establishment of the Court of Session (1532), the Chancery office was reduced practically to the function of issuing certain brieves, and recording certain writs. Cf. sense 3.
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1807–8 R. Bell Dict. Law Scotl. (at cited word)
1889 N.E.D. at Chancery Mod. ‘Served heir to his ancestor conform to decree of general service by the Sheriff of Chancery, dated…, and recorded in Chancery…’ ‘The Quarter Seal is kept by the Director of Chancery (the officer at the head of the Chancery Office).’
d. figurative (with reference to the functions of the court.)
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a1617 S. Hieron Penance for Sinne in Wks. (1620) II. 93 It is thy gracious Court of Chancery and mitigation which I flye vnto: I am afraid to appeare at the Bench of Iustice.
1634 J. Ford Chron. Hist. Perkin Warbeck ii. sig. D2 Wee carry A Chancerie of pittie in our bosome.
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ ii. v. §8 The Propheticall office was a kind of Chancery to the Mosaick Law, wherein the Prophets did interpret the Pandects of the Law ex æquo & bono.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. v. 888 His Will is not meer Will..but it is Law, Equity and Chancery.
1822 T. De Quincey Confessions Eng. Opium-eater 115 Oh..mighty opium..that summonest to the chancery of dreams..false witnesses.
e. figurative. Equity, or proceedings in equity.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > branch of the law > [noun] > equity
equitya1601
chancery1628
1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer vi. 1341 Whosoever came to see That peece of Chauncery, supposed me A very cheating Rascall.
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. viii. 207.
3. A court of record; an office of public records; archives; also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > judicial body, assembly, or court > [noun] > court of record > types of
King's Benchc1390
Court of Requests1487
chancery1523
society > communication > record > written record > arrangement and storage of written records > [noun] > place where official records are kept
registery1483
chancery1523
registry1531
cartuary1539
Register House1540
cartulary?1541
arches1626
register office1641
archive1645
record office1647
tabulary1656
registry office1720
registrature1762
dufter1791
records department1825
PRO1892
morgue1914
1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. xxiv. 35 The kyng caused [these letters] to be kept in his chauncery.
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xliii. xvi. 1166 The Censours..shut up and locked all the offices of the Chauncerie.
1762 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VI. viii. 42 The Accusing Spirit which flew up to heaven's chancery with the oath, blush'd as he gave it in.
1788 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) II. 499 The Consuls and vice-Consuls..may establish a chancery, where shall be deposited the consular determinations, acts and proceedings.
1832 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 32 789 Its slender chancery of written memorials.
1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present iii. x. 254 In Heaven's Chancery also there goes on a recording.
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society > trade and finance > money > place for keeping money > treasury > [noun]
treasuryc1290
coffer1377
treasure1426
hoard-housec1440
treasure-house1486
thesaurhouse1488
thesaurer house1489
thesaurary house1495
gold housea1500
thesaurary1592
reconditory1633
thesaurya1639
thesaurus1823
chancery1842
trove1976
1842 T. De Quincey Cicero in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. July 11/1 To pay back into the chancery of war, as into some fund of abeyance, all his own prizes, and palms of every kind.
5. = chancellery n. 2, esp. 3.In British diplomatic use chancery (and not chancellery) is used for the general political section, and the offices housing it, of an embassy or legation. The word chancery seems to have been first used in this connection in 1920 when it was decided that a new permanent clerical service for diplomatic and consular posts abroad, which was then being formed, should be known as the ‘Chancery Service’.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > government department or agency > [noun] > chancellery
chancery1561
chancellery1803
society > authority > rule or government > politics > international politics or relations > diplomacy > [noun] > official residence of ambassador > office attached to
chancellery1869
chancery1932
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. iv. f. 45 How great difference there is betwene the popes chauncerie, and a well framed order of the Chirche.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) II. 27 There are two chanceries, one for the Danish, and the other for the German language.
1882 C. E. Turner Stud. Russ. Lit. ix. 138 [He] offered Kriloff a place in his chancery.
1932 H. Nicolson Public Faces vii. 186 You will find a comfortable sofa in the outer chancery.
1954 O. O'Malley Phantom Caravan 242 I never went near the building which housed the Chancery (not chancellery, as many journalists called it). I sat in my house, which was about five minutes' walk away from the Embassy offices.
1957 Times 10 Oct. 8/4 Chanceries of all nations were groping for a reasonable definition of the limitation of ‘air space’.
6. = chancellery n. 2b.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > workplace > office > [noun] > of chancellor
chancery1578
chancellery1831
1578 T. Nicholas tr. F. Lopez de Gómara Pleasant Hist. Conquest W. India That he should be sent prisoner to the Chancerie of Santo Domingo.
1848 W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc Hist. Ten Years II. 594 Entering the Place Vendôme, on their way to the Chancery.
7. Pugilism. [From the tenacity and absolute control with which the Court of Chancery holds anything, and the certainty of cost and loss to property ‘in chancery’.] A slang term for the position of the head when held under the opponent's left arm to be pommelled severely, the victim meanwhile being unable to retaliate effectively; hence sometimes figuratively used of an awkward fix or predicament.
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1832 F. Marryat Newton Forster III. x. 162 He'll not ‘put his head in chancery’, that's clear.
1858 O. W. Holmes Autocrat of Breakfast-table vii. 191 I had old Time's head in chancery, and could give it to him at my leisure.
1877 W. Besant & J. Rice This Son of Vulcan (new ed.) i. ii. 28 What a thing it is to have your head in Chancery.
Compounds
C1. Generalattributive.
chancery-court n.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > judicial body, assembly, or court > [noun] > high court > court of chancery
chancery1377
High Court of Chancery?1564
chancery-court1594
1594 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. II. 161 The memory is as it were the Register and Chancery Court of all the other senses.
1847 L. H. Kerr tr. L. von Ranke Hist. Servia 328 A national chancery court.
chancery-judge n.
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1853 C. Dickens Bleak House Pref. p. vii A Chancery Judge had the kindness to inform me..that the Court of Chancery..was almost immaculate.
chancery-man n.
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1574 J. Baret Aluearie C 381 A Chauncerie man or a practiser in the law, to drawe out writtes.
a1601 W. Lambarde Archion (1635) 67 The house of the Rolles..hath beene of long time (as it were) the Colledge of the Chancery men.
chancery-practice n.
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1874 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera IV. 244 [Dickens] I have heard had real effects on Chancery practice.
chancery-suit n.
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1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy Bk. Prop. Law xxi. 162 A Chancery suit, the costs of which would undoubtedly fall on the claimants.
chancery-suitor n.
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1830 T. P. Thompson in Westm. Rev. Apr. 426 The celebrated injunction of a noble chancery-suitor to his son.
chancery-ward n.
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1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick xvi. 81 Widows, fatherless children, and chancery wards.
C2.
chancery-double n. a name for a kind of paper (? obsolete).
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society > communication > writing > writing materials > material to write on > paper > [noun] > other types of paper
writing paper1610
gilt paper1645
chancery-double1712
stamp paper1765
satin paper1776
cardstock1840
tablet paper1876
quadrille1884
P.O.P.1895
copy-paper1902
Silurian1942
sticky note1978
1712 Act 10 Anne in London Gaz. No. 5018/3 For all Paper called..Chancery double 2s...per Ream.
chancery-hand n. a particular style of engrossing.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > handwriting or style of > [noun] > legal
court-handa1616
chancery-hand1660
law-hand1731
secretary1770
charter-hand1888
1660 S. Pepys Diary 12 July (1970) I. 197 Mr. Kipps..directed me to Mr. Beale to get my patent ingrossed. But he not having time to get it done in Chancery-hand, I was forced to run all up and down Chancery-lane.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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