of chancery was commonly divided into
_exclusive_, _concurrent_ and _auxiliary_. Chancery had exclusive
jurisdiction when there were no forms of action by which relief could be
obtained at law, in respect of rights which ought to be enforced. Trusts
were the most conspicuous example of this class. It also included the
rights of married women, infants and lunatics. Chancery had concurrent
jurisdiction when the common law did not give _adequate_ relief, e.g. in
cases of fraud, accident, mistake, specific performance of contracts,
&c. It had auxiliary jurisdiction when the administrative machinery of
the law courts was unable to procure the necessary evidence.

The Judicature Act 1873 enacted (S 24) that in every civil cause or
matter commenced in the High Court of Justice, law and equity should be
administered by the High Court of Justice and the court of appeal
respectively, according to the rules therein contained, which provide
for giving effect in all cases to "equitable rights and other matters of
equity." The 25th section declared the law hereafter to be administered
in England on certain points, and ordained that "generally in all
matters not hereinbefore particularly mentioned in which there is any
conflict or variance between the rules of equity and the rules of the
common law with reference to the same matter, the rules of equity shall
prevail." The 34th section specifically assigned to the chancery
division the following causes and matters:--The administration of the
estates of deceased persons; the dissolution of partnerships, or the
taking of partnership, or other accounts; the redemption or foreclosure
of mortgages; the raising of portions, or other charges on land; the
sale and distribution of the proceeds of property subject to any lien
or charge; the execution of trusts, charitable or private; the
rectification, or setting aside, or cancellation of deeds or other
written instruments; the specific performance of contracts between
vendors and purchasers of real estates, including contracts for leases;
the partition or sale of real estates; the wardship of infants and the
care of infants' estates.

The chancery division originally consisted of the lord chancellor as
president and the master of the rolls, and the three vice-chancellors.
The master of the rolls was also a member of the court of appeal, but
Sir George Jessel, who held that office when the new system came into
force, regularly sat as a judge of