Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Henrico County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1770-1912. (Cite style of suit and chancery index no.). Local Government Records Collection. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from Henrico County.

Historical Information

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.

Henrico County was formed in 1634 (original shire).

All county court records prior to 1655 and almost all prior to 1677 are missing. Many records were destroyed by British troops during the Revolutionary War. Post-Revolutionary War county court records exist. Almost all circuit superior court of law and chancery and circuit court records were destroyed by fire during the evacuation of Richmond on 3 April 1865 in the Civil War. The county's circuit court held its sessions at the state courthouse in Richmond.

Scope and Content

Henrico County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1770-1912, are indexed into the Chancery Records Index . Cases are identified by style of suit consisting of plaintiff and defendant names. Surnames of others involved in a suit, including secondary plaintiffs and defendants, witnesses, deponents and affiants, and family members with surnames different from the plaintiff or defendant are indexed. Chancery causes often involved the following: divisions of estates or land, disputes over wills, divorces, debt, and business disputes. Predominant documents found in chancery causes include bills (plaintiff's complaint), answers (defendant's response), decrees (court's decision), depositions, affidavits, correspondence, lists of heirs, deeds, wills, slave records, business records or vital statistics, among other items. Plats, if present, are noted, as are wills from localities with an incomplete record of wills or localities other than the one being indexed.

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.

Arrangement

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

Related Material

Additional Henrico County Court Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia web site. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

See the Chancery Records Index found on the Library of Virginia web site for the chancery records of other Virginia localities.

Henrico County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional Henrico County Court Records may be found in the Virginia Lost Records Localities Collection at the Library of Virginia. Search the Lost Records Localities Database found at the Library of Virginia web site.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Henrico County (Va.). Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• African Americans -- History.
• Business enterprises -- Virginia -- Henrico County.
• Debt -- Virginia -- Henrico County.
• Divorce suits -- Virginia -- Henrico County.
• Equity -- Virginia -- Henrico County.
• Estates (Law) -- Virginia -- Henrico County.
• Land subdivision -- Virginia -- Henrico County.

Geographical Names:

• Henrico County (Va.) -- Genealogy.
• Henrico County (Va.) -- History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Chancery causes -- Virginia -- Henrico County.
• Deeds -- Virginia -- Henrico County.
• Judicial records -- Virginia -- Henrico County.
• Land records -- Virginia -- Henrico County.
• Local government records -- Virginia -- Henrico County.
• Plats -- Virginia -- Henrico County.
• Wills -- Virginia -- Henrico County.

Adjunct Descriptive Data