Catalogue description Records of Companies' jurisdiction and bankruptcy

From the earliest period of Chancery's equitable jurisdiction, the court had provided remedies in a wide variety of commercial causes for which there was, or appeared to be, no suitable form of action at common law. By c1500 Chancery had begun to acquire considerable litigation in relation to contract (particularly contracts entered into abroad). This jurisdiction focused especially on deceit and fraud, notably by those in a fiduciary position, on trusts and trustees and their implications, and on circumstances in which not only damages, but specific performance of an alleged prior contract, was sought. The scale of this business alarmed not only the competitor common law courts, but even Chancery itself. In 1614 it was decided that 'merchant's accounts and such like are not to be examined in the Chancery', which was to be limited to cases of debt, mortgages, and leases.

Nonetheless, commercial business remained an important staple of Chancery's jurisdiction. Possibly for this reason, jurisdiction in bankruptcy was given to the chancellor (though not to the court of Chancery as such) by statute in 1571; the chancellor was empowered to appoint commissioners under the great seal to deal with bankrupt persons and their property. This system survived despite numerous shortcomings - not least the proliferation of incompetent or venal commissioners - until 1831, when the Court of Bankruptcy was created. By this time the chancellor himself, or the vice-chancellor, heard all significant bankruptcy cases in person.

Under the Joint Stock Companies Act of 1848, Chancery also had responsibility for supervising proceedings in corporate bankruptcy, including liquidation and winding-up.

As a result of a series of nineteenth-century reforms of corporate bankruptcy law the principle was established that a company could not be made bankrupt; it could only go into liquidation and be wound up either voluntarily, or under the supervision of the court, or compulsorily by the court. Thereafter, the job of the liquidator was to administer the property of the company and to apply the assets, first to pay the creditors and then, if anything remained, to pay the shareholders according to their rights.

After 1873 jurisdiction in winding-up proceedings was vested in the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice until new arrangements, including the setting up of a Companies Court, were introduced under the Companies Act of 1890.