English common-law courts were well-established by the 14th century CE, and common law was becoming increasingly inflexible and complicated by technical and artificial rules. As the courts refused to provide alternate forms of relief from those established, including payment of damages and recovery of possession of land or chattels, individual litigants in their disappointment turned to the king or queen with petitions for justice. These petitions were referred to the Lord Chancellor.

By the 15th century, the lord chancellor had developed several different equitable remedies, as well as policies guiding these remedies' operations. Initially, the chancellor was not bound by precedent in the same way that the common-law courts were, and the chancellor was able to dispense justice with minimal procedural formality. This court was available to all, from common laborers to peers of the realm. The court dealt with a wide range of complicated disputes, including inheritance and wills, land and other property, debts, marriage settlements, apprenticeships, and trade and bankruptcy.

By the 17th century, common-law judges and Parliament were unhappy with the chancery court's encroachment on the province of the common-law courts, and the lord chancellor agreed not to hear any case in which there was adequate remedy in common law. The Court of Chancery was abolished as a separate equity court under an act of 1873, and in 1875 it became the Chancery Division of the Supreme Court of Judicature, one of three divisions of the High Court of Justice.

[Information taken from the National Archives "Chancery Equity Suits 1558-1875," https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/chancery-equity-suits-after-1558/ and Britannica.com, "Chancery Division."]