Miscellaneous

Take A Chancery

By Anne Skove, Esq.

Show of hands: who wants to be known as Lord High Chancellor?

Wow, that's so many of you! Sadly, only West Virginians need apply.

The state is considering bringing back the chancery system. This, when every other state has merged law and chancery, and some seem to have erased chancery altogether!

But chancery court is a wonderful invention. Under the ancient pleading rules, one mis-step and your case was out. Judges in courts of law then (and now) were just not equipped to reach equitable outcomes.

The pleading rules have relaxed in recent centuries, but we still hear much talk of equity. It's couched in different terms now -- creative problem-solving, restorative justice, win-win outcomes, conflict resolution, alternative sentencing. All are part of the art of judging, and chancery court is the perfect setting.

The West Virginia idea comes from state house speaker Rick Thompson. His version of chancery is Delawaresque: it would focus on business cases (buzzword time again: specialized court!). The court would "promote and utilize alternative dispute resolution to bring about successful resolution of cases without the parties becoming embroiled in a protracted litigation process."

Doesn't sound so medieval after all, does it?

See Speaker Suggests Creating Chancery Court System, Steve Korris, West Virginia Record (February 8, 2008). See also Speaker Wants Study on Chancery Court, Mannix Porterfield, Register-Herald (February 1, 2008).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on February 08, 2008 (boomark / email).