page_title: Court of Chancery
section_title: Other officers of the Court
hierarchical_section_title: Court of Chancery / Officers / Other officers of the Court
caption_attribution_description: John Romilly, 1st Baron Romilly (1802-1874)
context_page_description: The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible harshness of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the estates of lunatics and the guardianship of infants. Its initial role was somewhat different: as an extension of the Lord Chancellor's role as Keeper of the King's Conscience, the Court was an administrative body primarily concerned with conscientious law. Thus the Court of Chancery had a far greater remit than the common law courts, whose decisions it had the jurisdiction to overrule for much of its existence, and was far more flexible. Until the 19th century, the Court of Chancery could apply a far wider range of remedies than common law courts, such as specific performance and injunctions, and had some power to grant damages in special circumstances. With the shift of the Exchequer of Pleas towards a common law court and loss of its equitable jurisdiction by the Administration of Justice Act 1841, the Chancery became the only national equitable body in the English legal system.
context_section_description: When the Court was a part of the curia regis, the Officers were fluid; they could include Doctors of Civil Law, members of the curia and "those who ought to be summoned". As the members of the curia ceased to sit as Officers, however, the composition of the court became more solid. From an early period, the Lord Chancellor was assisted by twelve Clerks in Chancery, known as the Masters in Chancery. It was said that these positions had existed since before the Norman Conquest, sitting as part of the Witenagemot. After the conquest they gradually lost their authority, and became advisers and assistants to the Lord Chancellor. It was the Masters who started court cases, issuing the initial writs without which parties could not begin cases in the common law courts. In addition, they took depositions and acted as secretaries to the Lord Chancellor, maintaining the plea rolls. In the early years they were almost always members of the clergy, called the "clericos de prima forma"; it was not until the reign of Edward III that they were referred to as Masters in Chancery.
  The twelve Masters in Chancery were led by one of their number, known as the Master of the Rolls. He was almost as powerful as the Lord Chancellor, and had wielded judicial power since the time of Edward I. He was sometimes known as the "Vice-Chancellor", and was given the title "The Right Worshipful". The Master of the Rolls assisted the Court's judges in forming judgments, and regularly sat in place of the Lord Chancellor. The first reference to the Master of the Rolls comes from 1286, although it is believed that the position probably existed before that; the first reference to his having independent judicial authority is from 1520. The Master of the Rolls had six clerks, simply known as the Six Clerks, who helped keep the records; they were independently accountable for any mistakes. These were initially solicitors for the people suing in the Court, and no other counsel was allowed, but by the time of Francis Bacon claimants were allowed their own counsel. The Master of the Rolls and his clerks were housed in the Rolls Office, along with the Six Clerks' clerks, who numbered sixty. The Six Clerks were abolished in 1843, the Masters in Chancery in 1852, and when the Court of Chancery was abolished, the Master of the Rolls moved to the newly established Court of Appeal of England and Wales.
  From an early period, the Court was also assisted by two Registrars, who enrolled decrees of the court and orders; their books documented the legal precedent set by the court. At the same time, two Examiners were appointed to assist the Master of the Rolls in examining witnesses. The positions were regularly and openly sold by the Master of the Rolls and Lord Chancellor – Masters in Chancery went for £6,000 in 1625. To avoid the sale of offices, and due to the corruption of many court officials, an Act was passed that year requiring that fees be paid directly into the Bank of England, and creating an Accountant-General to oversee the financial aspects of the court. In 1813 the first Vice-Chancellor was appointed to deal with the increasing number of cases submitted to the Court. With the backlog growing larger, two more were appointed in 1841 under a second Act of Parliament, although this provided for two life appointments, not two new positions; when the new Vice-Chancellors died, there could be no replacements. With the dissolution of the Court in 1873, the position of Vice-Chancellor ceased to exist.
caption: John Romilly, the last Master of the Rolls to sit in the Court of Chancery
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