VPRS 1697 Equity Suit Books

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 The 1883 Act was later repealed, and was re-enacted with considerable procedural amendments by the Supreme Court Act 1890.The matters falling within the jurisdiction of the Equity Court include:Property: particularly trusts, married womens property and the equitable rules governing mortgages.Contracts: where specific performance and injunction were lent in the aid of common law rights.Deceased Estates: where the doctrines of satisfaction, performance and others assisted in the administration of estates.Procedure: the power to order discovery and interrogatories provided assistance to litigants both at common law and equity.Guardianship and Lunacy: under which Equity provided for the care and management of the person and property of people lacking legal capacity.Commercial matters: under which Equity ensured honesty in business affairs. This was most significant in the area of bankruptcy.This series provides a summary of cases heard by the Equity Jurisdiction of both VA 914 New South Wales Supreme Court, Port Phillip District and VA 2549 Supreme Court of Victoria. The names of the parties to each case are listed with the names of their respective solicitors. Under the name of the plaintiff and the defendant are then listed the dates and the documents which were presented to or created by the Court relevant to the progress of the case. These include listings by the Court, and Orders, decrees or Reports. In the final volume of the series the additional column Prayer of Bill is added, with entries summarising the plaintiffs goal in bringing the case as stated in the Bill of PleadingsThe case files for these cases are currently held in VPRS 31 Equity Case Files, New South Wales Supreme Court, Port Phillip District and in VPRS 259 /P Equity Case Files. The texts of other documents listed may be consulted in VPRS 257 Orders Books, VPRS 792 Decrees, VPRS 793 Reports, VPRS Orders, Reports and Decrees and VPRS Vesting orders.