Chancery and Supreme Court: Chancery Division: Directions

J 338

1841-1844

These Direction Books provide an audit of the stages for settlements and directions by the Administrators of the estate or investment directions by Masters in Chancery pertaining to particular estates. Typically, they are arranged chronologically by ledger entry, and contain the following details: title of the action; action taken (e.g. sold or bought shares) with percentage interest rate; date of the Order for the action; date of the report; 'Certe' probably comprising the name of the Solicitor or Administrator who was acting for the estate, and the amount of money expended for investment and in costs of administration.

Upon application by the Solicitor to the Chancery trial judge to sanction proper terms of settlement for the infant or mentally unstable subject, the judge will either give a direction as to how the money is to be apportioned or otherwise dealt with in response to the Administrators requests. An Order approving the settlement follows this direction. Upon agreeing a settlement or lump sum for the subject of the estate, an investment direction would have usually immediately followed. Failure by the solicitor or administrator to ensure that the settlement would have realised its full accrued value by approach to the Masters in Chancery to ensure proper investment directions could result in litigation by the subject upon reaching age of entitlement; the solicitor could be invited to make up the lost interest through their own funds. More usually the judge would have referred the the matter covered by the direction to a Master in Chancery to make the necessary Order as judges usually lacked the relevant expertise and experience to make investment decisions on behalf of the estate.

Ledgers are arranged chronologically by entry.

See also C 277

Public Record(s)

English

4 volume(s)

3 days notice to produce

Open

in 2010 Ministry of Justice

Topics

Litigation

Children

Wills and probate

These records can be traced back with certainty to 1972 when they were known to be in the custody of the Supreme Court Pay Office to 1975 and the Court Funds Office, thereafter, both sited at the Royal Courts of Justice London WC2A 2LL. During the 1980s the records were moved to the Public Record Office repository at Hayes Middlesex UB3 1RF. In 2003, the records were temporarily held in the basement of the Court Funds Office in 22 Kingsway, London WC2B 6LE before being moved in the same year into private storage at Bishops Furniture Storage in Battersea London acting on behalf of the Department for Constitutional Affairs. In 2008 the records were moved to Bishops Storage in Chessington, Surrey before being moved in 2009 to Harwell Laboratories in Oxfordshire for preparation for transfer to the National Archives. The remaining records that were not selected for transfer continue to be held by Bishops on behalf of the Ministry of Justice in Chessington Surrey.

Series is not accruing.

All directions selected (where extant).