§ 3. Character of the First Chancery Suits.

—The Chancellors, following the

example of the Roman praetors, 11 applied the equitable principles of the civil
law to the determination of all suits referred to them by the King. The suits
thus referred were, generally :
1, applications to obtain redress for injuries and
acts of oppression where from the power of the offender, or for any other cause,
a fair trial in the ordinary courts could not be had ;
2, cases where there were fraud, deceit and dishonesty beyond the reach of the common law; 12 and
3. cases where the common law was inadequate to the requirements of justice.

In those times of disorder and oppression, many were the appeals to the King
by the poor and the weak for protection against the rich and the strong, the
local magistrates being often overawed ; and many were the complaints of want
of remedy at law. The King, unable to give personal attention to so many
petitions, finally, conferred upon the Chancellor full authority to give relief in
all matters of "Grace," as these applications for redress were termed; and
from this period petitions began to be addressed to the Chancellors themselves,
and not to the King. This delegation of authority was made in the year 1348
and, in the next fifty years, the Equity jurisdiction of the Chancellor was
clearly established. 13

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The 12 Tables were an analogy from the Roman Law.