Richmond (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1783-1942 (bulk 1888-1905)

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888

Summary

Extent:
Digital Images; 417.1 cubic feet (868 boxes).
Creator:
Richmond (Va.) Circuit Court
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Richmond (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1783-1942, consists of cases concerning issues of equity brought largely by residents of the county and filed in the circuit court. These cases often involve the following actions: divisions of estates or land, disputes over wills, disputes regarding contracts, debt, divorce, and business disputes. Other less prevalent issues include freedom suits, permissions to sell property, and disputes concerning trespass. Predominant documents found in these chancery causes include bills (documents the plaintiff's complaint), answers (defendant's response to the plaintiff's complaint), decrees (court's decision), depositions, affidavits, correspondence, lists of heirs, deeds, plats, wills, records involving enslaved individuals, business records or vital statistics.

Pre-1812 causes often only contain a single document, usually a subpoena.

A number of the divorce suits brought forth by women involve adultery as the primary reason for divorce. Many of these suits include depositions which contain detailed information about local houses of ill fame, including their locations and the names of women who worked in the houses.

There is a substantial amount of information concerning enslaved Black men, women, and children. While there are several suits concerning the freedom of enslaved individuals, these cases largely represent the perspective of white enslavers and their disputes involving the sale, hiring, financial responsibilities, and legality of ownership of Black individuals. Specifically, there are many cases concerning estate disputes over enslaved individuals.

After the transatlantic slave trade ended in 1808, the domestic slave trade took its place. Richmond City became one of the largest slave trading cities in the south, second only to New Orleans. A number of chancery causes involve the slave trade, including slave traders as litigants in some suits, auction block sites, and references to enslaved people being sent further south as punishment.

The majority of post-1865 revolve around property, whether that be disputes over a deceased's estate or in a debt suit, the necessity of the debtor to sell their land to pay their debts because they did not have the liquid funds to pay them. Some of these court cases involve disputes over property dating back to the 18th century.

Many chancery causes from 1866-1875 reference or involve court systems set up during the military occupation of Richmond after the Civil War, including the Court of Conciliation and the Freedmen's Court. Some of the chancery causes were heard in these courts before being heard in the Court of Chancery, reflecting the intricate and convoluted systems of governance which existed in Virginia after the end of the Confederacy and before Virginia was returned to the Union in 1870.

Occasional years were treated as "clearance years" where cases which had not had any movement or action in seven years were stricken from the docket. These cases were indexed with the date they were stricken, but the last major changes in the case happened ages earlier.

Biographical / historical:

Context for Record Type: Chancery Causes are cases of equity. According to Black's Law Dictionary they are "administered according to fairness as contrasted with the strictly formulated rules of common law." A judge, not a jury, determines the outcome of the case; however, the judge is basing the decision on findings compiled and documented by Commissioners. Chancery causes are useful when researching local history, genealogical information, and land or estate divisions. They are a valuable source of local, state, social, and legal history and serve as a primary source for understanding a locality's history. Chancery causes document the lived experiences of free and enslaved individuals; women; children; people living with physical disabilities or mental health struggles; people living in poverty; defunct institutions and corporate entities; or those that may not have otherwise left traditional written histories.

Types of Courts:Richmond (Va.) Hustings court created by the General Assembly in 1782 at the time Richmond was granted it's charter. The court was created to handle all criminal cases, civil law cases, probate of wills, fiduciary accounts, deed recordings, all licenses (business, marriage, etc.), citizenship applications, etc. It also included the Mayor's Court.

Richmond (Va.) Hustings Court Part I was approved April 5, 1910 under agreement of consolidation between the City of Richmond and the City of Manchester and their corporation/ Hustings Court.

Richmond (Va.) Law and Equity Court was created by an act of General Assembly on February 12, 1894 to handle all civil law cases and equity cases filed in the City of Richmond (includes divorces, partitions suits, injunctions, mechanic liens suits, etc.).

Richmond (Va.) Circuit Court created in 1852 as a successor to the Circuit Court of Chancery for the County of Henrico in order to handle all civil wand criminal matters, same as other circuit courts for counties, cities, or towns. In July 1954, the Clerk of Law and Equity Court was named clerk of the Circuit Court. At the same time it's jurisdiction was limited to criminal proceedings against convicts in the penitentiary, proceeding to enforce payment of money to commonwealth and suits against public officers representing the commonwealth.

Upon the close of the Civil War and the military occupation of Richmond, in Spring of 1866 a military tribunal, called the Court of Conciliation, was established. Rather than a singular judge, three arbitrators were given the power to adjudicate all cases which involved the possession of real and personal property, as well as when contracts specified confederate currency as the payment method. The court's short term ended in December of the same year.

Locality History:Richmond, located between Henrico and Chesterfield Counties, was named by William Byrd (1674-1744), who envisioned the development of a city at the falls of the James River and with the help of William Mayo laid out the town in 1737. The name probably came from the English borough of Richmond upon Thames, which Byrd visited on several occasions. Richmond was established in 1742 and in 1779 was designated the capital of Virginia effective 30 April 1780. It was incorporated as a town, although "stiled the city of Richmond," in 1782 and was incorporated as a city in 1842. It served as the capital of the Confederacy from mid-1861 to April 1865. Richmond was enlarged by the annexation of Manchester (or South Richmond) in 1910, and by the addition of Barton Heights, Fairmount, and Highland Park in 1914. Further annexations from Chesterfield County occurred in 1942 and 1970.

Lost Locality Notes:Established in 1742; incorporated as a town, although "stiled the city of Richmond," in 1782. During the burning of Richmond on April 3, 1865, during the Civil War, Richmond circuit court judge John A. Meredith led efforts to save the circuit court records found at the State Court House. Rescuers successfully removed all the circuit court papers that concerned pending suits and many of the order books, but all of the circuit court will and deed books were lost. Records of the superior court and circuit superior court of law and chancery were also destroyed. Most of the pre-Civil War Husting Court records exist, including Hustings Court wills and deeds.

Acquisition information:
These records came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Richmond in 2018 under the accession number 52593. Additional records were transferred to the Library of Virginia in 2019 under accession number 52743 as well as under an undated accession.
Arrangement:

Organized by case, of which each is assigned a unique index number comprised of the latest year found in case and a sequentially increasing 3-digit number assigned by the processor as cases for that year are found. Arranged chronologically.

Arrangement of documents within each folder are as follows: Bill, Answer, and Final Decree (if found.)

Physical location:
Library of Virginia