Supreme Court of Judicature: Chancery Division: Entry Books of Decrees and Orders

These volumes are a continuation of C 33 and also include some Court of Appeal and House of Lords judgements in Chancery actions. The entries include a record of any orders made during the course of a case and the final judgement, as well as the date for the recording of the affidavits or depositions, of the hearing, the final decree and the judgement.

It should be noted that the terms 'order' and 'decree' are used in the widest possible sense and may be taken to include 'foreclosures', 'injunctions', 'judgements', 'petitions' and 'motions', all of which are contained in this series.

The entry books are divided into two series known as the A and B books. A books list suits A-K and B books L-Z (by the initial letter of the plaintiff's name). In 1932 the 'A' and 'B' books were amalgamated.

The entries are made (roughly) chronologically according to the date of filing or entering, under the initial letter of the plaintiff's name.

Chancery master's notes, together with confidential statements, reports and correspondence are included in J 83

Action papers assembled following the recommendation of the Committee on Legal Records (Cmnd 3084) published in 1966 can be found in J 84

Earlier volumes of the former Court of Chancery can be found in C 33

Drafts from the chambers of Master Thomas Romer, which provide an early basis for reports and certificates held in this series, can be found in J 25

Topics

Litigation

A new procedure requiring the filing of printed orders was adopted in 1875. These were bound into volumes termed 'Printed Series'. The entry books with manuscript entries continued as 'written series'. During 1894 the practice of entering into the books by registrars was abandoned. From 1894 onwards, written copies of decrees and orders (in the cases where printed copies were not required) were filed and bound into volumes in a similar manner to the printed copies. There are no printed orders after 1921.