Information about Delaware Court of Chancery

The Delaware Court of Chancery is a court of equity in the American state of Delaware. It is one of Delaware's five constitutional courts, along with the Supreme Court, Superior Court, Family Court, and Court of Common Pleas.

Jurisdiction

The Court's jurisdiction is a hybrid of constitutional provisions, statutes, and case law.

According to the Delaware Judicial Information center

“The Court of Chancery has jurisdiction to hear and determine all matters and causes in equity. The general equity jurisdiction of the Court is measured in terms of the general equity jurisdiction of the High Court of Chancery of Great Britain as it existed prior to the separation of the American colonies. The General Assembly may confer upon the Court of Chancery additional statutory jurisdiction. In today's practice, the litigation in the Court of Chancery consists largely of corporate matters, trusts, estates, and other fiduciary matters, disputes involving the purchase and sale of land, questions of title to real estate, and commercial and contractual matters in general. When issues of fact to be tried by a jury arise, the Court of Chancery may order such facts to trial by issues at the Bar of the Superior Court of Delaware. (10 Del. C., 369).” ^[1]

Article IV, Section 10 of the Delaware Constitution establishes the Court and provides that it "shall have all the jurisdiction and powers vested by the laws of this State in the Court of Chancery."^[2] The Court has one Chancellor, who is the chief judicial officer of the Court, and four Vice Chancellors. It also has one Master in Chancery, who is assigned by the Chancellor and Vice Chancellors to assist in matters as needed.

Equitable jurisdiction

Title 10, Section 341 of the Delaware Code states that the Court "shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine all matters and causes in equity." ^[3] Subsequent decisions have held that the Court's equitable jurisdiction is the same as that held by the English High Court of Chancery at the time of American independence in 1776.

The Court's most significant power is its ability to issue preliminary and permanent injunctions and temporary restraining orders. This is frequently exercised in the context of disputes involving mergers and acquisitions or sales of corporations, wherein a corporate suitor or a shareholder will attempt to enjoin -- that is, prevent -- the sale or merger of a corporation, claiming that their stock value has been diluted or that they have superior rights to purchase the corporation. In a typical sale or merger dispute, a plaintiff will seek a temporary restraining order, sometimes on an ex parte basis, to prevent the transaction from taking place and preserve the status quo. If the Court grants that relief, the plaintiff will then seek a preliminary injuncton to maintain the current state of affairs until a trial can take place.

Title 10, Section 342 of the Delaware Code provides that the Court shall not hear any matters for which an adequate remedy exists at law or which can be heard by any other Delaware court.^[4] As a practical matter, this means that the Court cannot grant relief in the form of money damages to compensate a party for a loss or where another court has coterminous jurisdiction. However, under the rules of equity, the court can grant monetary relief in the form of restitution by ruling that another party has unjustly gained money that belongs to the plantiff.

Apart from its general equitable jurisdiction, the Court has jurisdiction over a number of other matters. First, the Court has sole power to appoint guardians of the property and person for mentally or physically disabled Delaware residents. Similarly, the Court may also appoint guardians for minors, although the Family Court has coterminous jurisdiction over such matters. Will contests and disputes over interpretations of trusts are also heard by the Court.

In 1952, the court of Chancery would decide in the case of Gebhart v. Belton that the operation of segregated school systems in Delaware were unlawful, two years before the U.S. Supreme Court would do so in Brown v. Board of Education.

Procedure

The Court sits without a jury. All issues of fact are determined by the presiding Chancellor or Vice Chancellor. The Court has the discretion to appoint an advisory jury if it so desires, but this power is practically never exercised.

History

The history of the Court of Chancery stems back to the English common law system, in which separate courts were established to hear law and equity matters. English law courts included the Court of King's Bench (or Queen's Bench when the monarch was female), the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of the Exchequer. The sole English court of equity was the High Court of Chancery.

Along with the remainder of the original Thirteen Colonies, Delaware imported the English concept of common law. This included establishing a separate Court of Chancery. As the legal system evolved in England, the English High Court of Chancery was eventually abolished and its powers merged into the law courts. Most American jurisdictions followed suit.

In its first Constitution, the Delaware Constitution of 1776, there was no special provision for a court of equity. However, when the constitution was revised in the Delaware Constitution of 1792 a separate Court of Chancery was established. This constitution was heavily influenced by thinking of John Dickinson and George Read. William T. Quillen and Michael Hanrahan in their Short History of the Delaware Court of Chancery repeat the “folklore of the Delaware bench and bar, saying that the impetus for creating a Court of Chancery was to provide a new judicial seat for Delaware's first Chancellor, William Killen.” Killen was the elderly and highly respected incumbent Chief Justice of Delaware, and when George Read was considered to be the new Chief Justice of Delaware, he refused unless adequate provisions were made for Killen. A separate Court of Chancery under Killen was the solution. ^[5]

Constitution of 1792

There was one Chancellor, appointed by the Governor for life.

Chancellors of Delaware
Name	Took Office	Left Office	Residence	Party	notes
William Killen	October 6 1793	December 6 1801	Kent County	Democratic-Republican
Nicholas Ridgely	December 6 1801	April 1 1830	Kent County	Democratic-Republican
Kensey Johns, Sr.	June 21 1830	January 18 1832	New Castle County	Whig

Constitution of 1831

There was one Chancellor, appointed by the Governor for life.

Chancellors of Delaware
Name	Took Office	Left Office	Residence	Party	notes
Kensey Johns, Jr.	January 18 1832	March 28 1857	New Castle County	Whig
Samuel M. Harrington	May 4 1857	November 28 1865	Kent County	Democratic
Daniel M. Bates	December 12 1865	October 1873	New Castle County	Democratic
Willard Saulsbury, Sr.	November 14 1873	April 6 1892	Sussex County	Democratic
James L. Wolcott	May 5 1892	September 5 1895	Kent County	Democratic
John R. Nicholson	September 5 1895	June 10 1897	Kent County	Democratic

Constitution of 1897

There was one Chancellor, appointed by the Governor for a 12 year term. There were also created over the years, additional Vice Chancellors, the first in 1939, a second in 1961, a third in 1984, and a fourth in 1989. They were also appointed by the Governor for a 12 year term, but are required to be equally divided between the major political parties, so that among all the Chancellors no party has a majority of more than one person.

Chancellors of Delaware
Name	Took Office	Left Office	Residence	Party	notes
John R. Nicholson	June 10 1897	June 10 1909	Kent County	Democratic
Charles M. Curtis	June 10 1909	July 2 1921		Republican
Josiah O. Wolcott	July 2 1921	November 11 1938	Kent County	Democratic
William W. Harrington	December 7 1938	1950
Daniel F. Wolcott	1950	1951		Democratic
Collins J. Seitz	1951	July 17 1966
William Duffy	July 17 1966	1973
William T. Quillen	1973	1976
William Marvel	September 1976	May 1 1982
Grover C. Brown	1982	1985
William T. Allen	1985	1997
William B. Chandler, III	1997

Vice Chancellors of Delaware
Name	Took Office	Left Office	Residence	Party	notes
George B. Pearson, Jr.	1939	1946			1st
Collins J. Seitz	February 1 1946	1951			1st
Howard W. Bramhall	1951	1954			1st
William Marvel	September 8 1954	September 1976			1st
Maurice A. Hartnett	1976	1994			1st
Myron T. Steele	1994	2000			1st
John W. Noble	November 2000	present			1st
Isaac D. Short	1961	1973			2nd
Grover C. Brown	1973	1982			2nd
Joseph S. Longobardi	1982	1984			2nd
Joseph T. Walsh	1984	1985			2nd
Jack B. Jacobs	1985	2003			2nd
Donald F. Parsons	October 22 2003				2nd
Carolyn Berger	1984	1994			3rd
Bernard S. Bolick	1994	1998			3rd
Leo E. Strine, Jr.	November 1998	present			3rd
William B. Chandler, III	1989	1997			4th
Stephen P. Lamb	1997	present			4th

Notes

1. ^ Jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery [1]
2. ^ Delaware Constitution [2]
3. ^ Delaware Code Title 10 [3]
4. ^ Delaware Code Title 10 [4]
5. ^ ''A Short History of the Delaware Court of Chancery [5]

References

Munroe, John A. (1993). History of Delaware. Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware Press. ISBN 0-87413-493-5.
Conrad, Henry C. (1908). History of the State of Delaware, 3 vols.. Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Wickersham Company.

External links

Delaware Court of Chancery http://courts.delaware.gov/Courts/Court%20of%20Chancery/

Places with more information

Historical Society of Delaware http://www.hsd.org/ 505 Market St., Wilmington, Delaware (302) 655-7161
University of Delaware Library http://www.lib.udel.edu/ 181 South College Ave., Newark, Delaware (302) 831-2965

	State of Delaware • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

court is a public forum used by a power base to adjudicate disputes and dispense civil, labour, administrative and criminal justice under its laws. In common law and civil law states, courts are the central means for dispute resolution, and it is generally understood that all
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Equity is the name given to the set of legal principles, in countries following the English common law tradition (see English law), which supplement strict rules of law where their application would operate harshly, so as to achieve what is sometimes referred to as "natural justice.
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Motto
"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
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State of Delaware

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Nickname(s): The First State, The Small Wonder, Blue Hen State
Motto(s): Liberty and Independence

Capital Dover
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The Supreme Court of Delaware is the sole appellate court in the United States' state of Delaware. Because Delaware is a popular haven for corporations, the Court has developed a worldwide reputation as a respected source of corporate law decisions, particularly in the area of
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The Delaware Superior Court is the trial court of general jurisdiction in the state of Delaware. It has original jurisdiction over most criminal and civil cases (except for suits at equity, which are handled by the Delaware Court of Chancery).
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In United States jurisprudence, Court of Common Pleas is a court of certain jurisdiction. It stems from the Court of Common Pleas in the English legal system and was brought to the United States by the colonial settlers along with the rest of the English common law tradition.
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Motto
"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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Delaware General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Delaware. It comprises the lower Delaware House of Representatives with 41 Representatives, and the upper Delaware Senate with 21 Senators.
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An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order, whereby a party is required to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts. The party that fails to adhere to the injunction faces civil or criminal penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions for
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mergers and acquisitions (abbreviated M&A) refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling and combining of different companies that can aid, finance, or help a growing company in a given industry grow rapidly
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Ex parte is a Latin legal term meaning "from (by or for) one party" (IPA pronunciation: [ɛks 'pɑ(r)teɪ] or [ɛks 'pɑ(r)ti]
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restitution is the law of gains-based recovery. It is to be contrasted with the law of compensation, which is the law of loss-based recovery. Obligations to make restitution and obligations to pay compensation are each a type of legal response to events in the real world.
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The Law of Wills, Trusts and Inheritance
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Year 1952 (MCMLII
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Gebhardt v. Belton, 33 Del. Ch. 144, 87 A.2d 862 (Del. Ch. 1952), aff'd, 91 A.2d 137 (Del. 1952), was a case decided by the Delaware Court of Chancery in 1952 and affirmed by the Delaware Supreme Court in the same year.
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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

Supreme Court of the United States
Argued December 9, 1952
Reargued December 8, 1953
Decided May 17, 1954

Full case name: Oliver Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka et al.
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Court of Common Pleas was a common law court in the English legal system before the reforms of the Judicature Act 1873.

The Court

It was the second oldest of the three common law courts, the oldest being the Court of Exchequer, the newest the Queen's Bench.
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The Exchequer of Pleas or Exchequer was one of the three common-law courts of Medieval and Early Modern England and Wales. The term Exchequer is used where there is no possibility of confusion with the government department of the Exchequer of which the Exchequer of Pleas
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Court of Chancery was one of the courts of equity in England and Wales.

Overview

The High Court of Chancery was the court that developed from the Lord Chancellor's jurisdiction.
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Thirteen Colonies were British colonies in North America founded between 1607 (Virginia), and 1733 (Georgia). Although Great Britain held several other colonies in North America and the West Indies, the colonies referred to as the "thirteen" are those that began a rebellion against
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Delaware Court Of Chancery