VPRS 257 Orders 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 of 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 The 1883 Act was later repealed, and was re-enacted with considerable procedural amendments by the Supreme Court Act 1890.The Master in Equity was responsible for the administration of the Supreme Court in Equity as well as holding various other positions. In 1883 under the Judicature Act the position of Prothonotary of the Supreme Court (VA 433) was established to relieve the Master in Equity of the administration of matters not related to Equity. The Prothonotary later assumed responsibility for the Equity functions of the Master in Equity.This series contains the Orders made by the Supreme Court in Equity in relation to cases before it in both its ordinary and ecclesiastical jurisdiction and Orders transmitted to it from other jurisdictions in equity. Some Orders were made as part of the judgment of the case and others by rules nisi.From 1856 until 1861 the Orders were transcribed in to the volumes. The Order was engrossed on to the Roll in the Case File (see VPRS 259 Equity Case Files) and a copy of the Order was also placed in the Equity Case File. The folio number of the Order in VPRS 257 was written on the copy in the Equity Case File and the date of the Order was noted in the Equity Suit Book VPRS 1697.From 1861 the practice of transcribing the Order into the volumes ceased. Instead the original Orders were bound together into volumes rather than being placed in the Equity Case File. The Orders were folded originally and were later unfolded and bound, probably by the Masters Office to assist reference. The cases folio number in the Equity Suit Book (VPRS 1697) is inscribed on the Order and if the Order is engrossed on the Roll, that is also noted. The Equity Case File Number is usually not inscribed on the Order. The previous system of transcribing Orders in to the Books did not provide these cross references.All Equity Court Orders were noted in the Equity Suit Books, see VPRS 1697.Orders may be concerned with the award of costs at the conclusion of a case; they involved applications under the Lunacy Act for persons to be declared lunatic by inquisition, matters related to the Insolvency Act, the Companies Act and the Trustees Act ; they involved Orders for the delivery of relevant documents to the Master in Equity for a preparation of a report for the Court by the Master and other Orders made by the Court. Actual equity case files may be found in VPRS 259 Equity Case Files.A Note about Previous/ Subsequent SeriesAlthough this series covers the period 1856 1884 (including 1864), some Orders from 1864 were bound into a volume with Decrees and Reports also created in 1864, see VPRS 12799 Orders, Decrees and Reports. It is not known why this was done, possibly the Orders in VPRS 12799 were overlooked when the majority of the Orders were bound into the volumes of VPRS 257, and for expediency the Orders were bound with Decrees and Reports that also had been missed.