VPRS 12799 Orders, Decrees and Reports

From 1841 to 1852 all Victorian Supreme Court cases were handled by the New South Wales Supreme Court, Port Phillip District under the Imperial Act 5 Vict No 9. It provided that the resident judge of the Port Phillip District should have exclusive jurisdiction to deal with civil and criminal cases. The Supreme Court had the same jurisdiction as that of the Lord High Chancellor in Equity. With the creation of the Supreme Court of Victoria (Act 15 Vict No 10) in 1852 the Master in Equity became a recognised officer in the Court in Victoria. In 1883, by the Supreme Court (Judicature) Act, the English legislation providing for the concurrent jurisdiction of law and equity came to apply in Victoria where previously the court was notionally divided into a court of law and a court of equity. The 1883 Act was later repealed, and was re-enacted with considerable procedural amendments by the Supreme Court Act 1890.This series consists of Orders, Decrees and Reports prepared for the Court by the Master in Equity. Usually these records were accumulated separately, see VPRS 792 Decrees, VPRS 793 Reports, and VPRS 257 Orders Books. However a small number of Orders, Decrees and Reports from 1864 were bound together in the one volume. It is not known why this was done, possibly the records had been overlooked when they were bound into volumes and hence they were all bound together in one volume for expediency.The cases folio number in the Equity Suit Book (VPRS 1697) is written on the Orders, Decrees and Reports. The Equity Case File Number is not usually written.