Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Isle of Wight County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1934-1966. (Cite style of suit and chancery index no.). Local Government Records Collection, Isle of Wight County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from Isle of Wight 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.

Isle of Wight County was most likely named for the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England. It was first known as Warrosquyoake and was one of the eight shires established in 1634. The present name was given in 1637. Part of Nansemond County was added in 1769.

Scope and Content

Isle of Wight County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1934-1966, 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

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.

Related Material

Additional Isle of Wight 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.

Digital images of pre-1934 Isle of Wight County Chancery Causes are available on the Chancery Records Index found on the Library of Virginia web site.

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

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Isle of Wight County (Va.) Circuit Court

Subjects:

• African Americans -- History
• Business enterprises -- Virginia -- Isle of Wight County
• Debt -- Virginia -- Isle of Wight County
• Divorce suits -- Virginia -- Isle of Wight County
• Equity -- Virginia -- Isle of Wight County
• Estates (Law) -- Virginia -- Isle of Wight County
• Land subdivision -- Virginia -- Isle of Wight County

Geographical Names:

• Isle of Wight County (Va.) -- Genealogy -- Genealogy
• Isle of Wight County (Va.) -- History -- 20th century

Genre and Form Terms:

• Chancery causes -- Virginia -- Isle of Wight County
• Deeds -- Virginia -- Isle of Wight County
• Judicial records -- Virginia -- Isle of Wight County
• Land records -- Virginia -- Isle of Wight County
• Local government records -- Virginia -- Isle of Wight County
• Plats -- Virginia -- Isle of Wight County
• Wills -- Virginia -- Isle of Wight County

Adjunct Descriptive Data