Equity Proceedings in the Court of Chancery (1750-1800)

<plain_text><page sequence="1">EQUITY PROCEEDINGS IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY (1750-1800) By G. Dworkin, LL.B. Documents in many Court of Chancery proceedings in which Jewish persons were concerned may be inspected at the Public Record Office in Chancery Lane, London. In the main, these dust-stained, creased, parch? ment documents of great width and typical legal verbosity comprise Bills, Answers, Depositions and other proceedings in Chancery suits. The complete documents in an action are not found neatly tied together. It is often necessary to proceed from bundle to bundle to trace the steps in a Chancery action, and even then many documents may be missing. The reasons for this may be attributed to the inordinate length of Chancery actions ?in some cases actions spanned generations, and it was frequently said that a party who commenced contentious proceedings could not hope to live to see the end of them; also, the haphazard routine of office administration did not assist. Charles Dickens's account of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce in Bleak House is not far from the truth. The difficulties of searching are also increased by the title of the suit often being varied according to the name of the particular defendant who filed an answer. Further, the decisions of the Lord Chancellor are unlikely to be recorded with these papers. However, to the eager historian, the close perusal of these documents will certainly reveal some interesting and important aspects of the life and affairs of eighteenth-century Jews in England. Disputes over settlements and wills, claims for commission, marine insurance and many other matters may veil the modus vivendi of the Jewish litigants. Following this note there is listed a series of references to Chancery pro? ceedings (revised from a list originally prepared by Lucien Wolf) which may be of particular interest to the historian of Jewish affairs. The detailed references are to be found in Index Books of Chancery Proceedings in the Legal Search Room at the Public Record Office. Each Index Book bears two names (e.g. Purcas &amp; Winter), the first being the name of one of the famous Six Clerks and the second being one of the subordinate clerks. (When a Bill was brought into the office of the Court of Chancery to be filed it was delivered to a sub? ordinate clerk of any one of the Six Clerks, who entered the names of the plaintiff and defendant together with that of his principal and his own name in the Bill Book. These officials were virtually acting as solicitors for the plaintiffs or defendants in each suit.) Each Index Book lists the title of the suit and then the bundle and reference numbers. In front of each Index Book is a guiding number. For all the references given below the guiding number is C12 (which covers the 2,434 bundles of Chancery proceedings from circa 1750 until 1800). To obtain any 195</page><page sequence="2">196 MISCELLANIES VI of these documents one fills in the search form by inserting the guiding number followed by the bundle and reference numbers. Thus, to obtain certain documents relating to Alvares v. Salvador (see below) one fills in the search form with the following:? G12 500/5. To obtain the documents referred to below there is no necessity to refer to the Index Books, but only to use the complete reference indicated in the last column. (The names of the parties to the actions are not always spelt correctly in the Index Books, but to facilitate reference all names accord with the spelling therein.) For further reference see Giuseppi, Guide to the Public Record Office, i.p. 47. CHANCERY PROCEEDINGS Purcas &amp; Winter Parties Alvares v. Salvador Da Veiga v. Da Costa Da Veiga v. Da Costa De Castro v. Capadose Da Costa v. D'Aquillar Da Costa v. De Aguilar De Salis v. De Salis Da Silva v. Furtado Francia v. Delmonte Fazakerley v. Fazakerley Lopes v. Nunes Lindo v. Mocatta Lousada v. D'Aguilar Mocatta v. Lousada Mendoza v. Da Costa Sequegra (alias De Roza) v. Franco D'Aguilar D'Aguilar Franco v, Franco v, Franco v. Furtado v, Franco v. Franco v. Franco v. v. Salvador v. Nunes Furtado Furtado Pereira . Andrade Franco Franco Serra Year 1760 1768 1770 1784 1793 1794 1766 amd 1767 1792 1752 1796 1790 1759 1796 1800 1750 1760 Bundle No. 500 537 540 592 645 651 896 956 700 973 635 813 957 694 702 817 Whittington &amp; Sewell 1760 292 1762 385 1764 28 1762 385 1765 33 1766 47 1775 83 1797 224 1782 120 Ref. 5 31 29 6 24 15 9 68 7 12 23 4 56 7 18 19 23 17 10 21 21 37 12 23 51 Public Record Office Ref. C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 500/5 537/31 540/29 592/6 645/24 651/15 896/9 956/68 700/7 973/12 635/23 813/4 957/56 694/7 702/18 C12 817/19 292/23 385/17 28/10 385/21 33/21 47/37 83/12 224/23 120/51</page><page sequence="3">CHANCERY PROCEEDINGS 1750-1800 197 Parties Francia v. Alvares Furtado v. Franco Lindo v. Franco Linco v. Franco Massias v. Israel Mendez v. Mendez Monforte v. Franco Pereira v. Pereira D'Aguilar v. Salvador Da Costa v. Fernandes D'Aguilar v. Da Costa De Lara v. Ximenes De Castro v. Da Costa De Lara v. Capadox D'Aguilar v. D'Aguilar D'Aguilar v. D'Aguilar D'Aguilar v. D'Aguilar Salvador v. D'Costa Sequeira v. Franco Samuda v. Fertado Serra v. Pereira Solomon v. Israel Ximenes v. Perreira Ximenes v. Goldsmid Ximenes v. Defaiba Year 1760 1762 amd 1765 1790 1791 1775 1743 1790 1762 1763 1762 1768 1772 1772 1773 1783 1761 1784 1776 1788 1790 1788 1752 1788 1797 amd 1798 1770 Bundle No. 276 385 169 177 90 320 465 386 24 24 47 67 67 72 125 275 130 91 158 171 158 294 158 242 391 Ref. 9 23 43 7 8 20 40 15 4 5 32 1 2 11 11 35 18 16 10 41 3 19 51 26 78 Public Record Office Ref. C12 276/9 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 385/23 169/43 177/7 90/8 320/20 465/40 386/15 24/4 24/5 47/32 67/1 67/2 72/11 125/11 275/35 130/18 91/16 158/10 171/41 158/3 294/19 158/51 242/26 391/78 Henriques v. Henriques Salvador v. Prade Salvador v. Salvador Ximenes v. Carreras Reynardson &amp; Edmonstone 1749 2213 1758 2027 1755 amd 1756 amd 1759 2376 1758 2028 36 14 5 24 C12 2213/36 C12 2027/14 C12 2376/5 C12 2028/24 Alvares v. Pereira Cowan v. Lindo Israel v. Lindo Levy v. Lamego Levy v. Da Costa Woodford &amp; Kipling 1763 1172 1788 amd 1790 1089 1791 1093 1760 1000 1769 1025 11 1 1 6 C12 1172/5 C12 C12 1089/11 1093/1 C12 1000/1 C12 1025/6</page><page sequence="4">198 MISCELLANIES VI Parties Abarbanel v. Lindo Da Sylva v. Sylva De Castro v. De Castro De Almeida v. Furtado Da Costa v. Da Costa De Mattos v. De Chaies Da Costa v. Salvador Da Costa v. Franco De Mendoca v. Cortissos Delgado v. Da Costa De Vargus v. Furtado Delgado v. Serra D'Aguilar v. D'Aguilar Da Costa v. Da Costa De Almeida v. Franco Da Paiba v. Ximenes Franco v. De Gabay Franco v. Franco Lousada v. Daguilar Levy v. De Souza Nunes v. Ximenes Sequeira v. Sequeira Da Costa v. Da Costa Da Costa v. D'Aguilar Franco v. D'Gabay Franco v. Furtado Gower v. Furtado Israel v. Franco Waag v. De Mattos Year 1800 1758 1762 1765 1768 1769 1768 1770 1770 1774 1772 amd 1773 1776 1793 amd 1794 1794 1765 1770 1757 amd 1759 1795 1777 1800 1767 1779 1759 1761 1760 1760 1760 1788 1752 Zincke &amp; Ford Bundle No. Ref. 1430 1 1269 38 1286 24 1298 7 1309 28 1313 29 1313 30 1317 36 1321 34 1333 36 1333 38 1341 40 Public Record Office Ref. 1408 38 1408 37 1512 7 1523 48 1275 5 1417 3 1346 24 1431 7 1307 1 1355 15 Mitford &amp; Hanmer 1570 15 1577 21 1574 28 1574 29 1889 24 1997 41 1897 31 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 C12 1430/1 1269/38 1286/24 1298/7 1309/28 1313/29 1313/30 1317/36 1321/34 1333/36 C12 1333/38 C12 1341/40 C12 1408/38 C12 1408/37 C12 1512/7 C12 1523/48 1275/5 1417/3 1346/24 1431/7 1307/1 1355/15 1570/15 1577/21 1574/28 1574/29 1889/24 1997/41 1897/31</page></plain_text>