Catalogue description Court of Chancery: Clerks of Records and Writs Office: Pleadings 1842-1852

C 14 is now searchable online by the full name of the first plaintiff and of all the defendants. Further information about solicitors and dates within the cause can be found in C 32, where each cause is listed by year, letter and number (e.g. 1844 A1) .

The records in this series consist of pleadings in equity cases initiated in the court of Chancery from Michaelmas term 1842. This was the date when a new and simpler filing system was introduced, replacing the separate Six Clerks' Offices with one Office of the Clerk of the Records and Writs. Bills of revivor for suits started before this date will be found in C 13 until 1845, when they were included in the new filing system under the year the bill was revived.

Each suit comprises a large parchment file of its own, of varying sizes and date range: about twenty files are rolled together into very large bundles. The whole bundle is produced to the researcher, but the individual files have their own reference written on them in the form 1844 A1. This number stayed with the cause and was used by the court.

The description given for each cause gives only the date of the first bill filed. Some cases ended immediately after the bill, others went on for years through all the varieties of pleading, bills of revivor etc. Only hte first date is given.

In many causes depostions and examinations can be found on the file, but some depositions may be found in C 24 or in the various C and J series that relate to the Chancery Masters.

The records cover a wide variety of matters, particularly in respect of disputes about wills and the administration of estates, but also with many commercial and land disputes. There are also a number of cases arising from the Joint Stock Companies Act of 1844.

A useful tip when trying to identify subjects of causes is to search in The Times, as many Chancery causes were reported there.

For the related Bill Books arranged alphabetically under the plaintiffs' names see IND 1/2152 - IND 1/2162; the Clerks in Court Books can be found in IND 1/7388 - IND 1/7525 and alphabetical by plaintiffs indexes to bills in IND 1/16663 - IND 1/16702

Chancery Proceedings: Equity Suits from 1558 Go to our research guidance