Research

Scope and Content Note

This series contains a short chronological record of proceedings in cases in which a clerk in Chancery provided a service. A court rule required the two Chancery Clerks in New York City and the two in Albany to maintain these registers.

The information recorded for each case entered in this series is the names of the complainant, defendant, and solicitor(s) and a chronological listing of proceedings and their dates. The types of actions recorded in this listing are the appearance of parties in court, the filing and entering of papers with court, the issuing of orders, subpoenas and other processes, the delivery of papers, and other actions requiring the service of a Clerk in Chancery. Some registers also contain the name of the Clerk for each service provided. Because the Clerks could transfer cases among themselves, the same case will sometimes appear in two different registers. A law of 1823 abolished the positions of Clerk in Chancery in New York City and Albany and transferred their duties to the Register and Assistant Register. The Register's Minutes of Causes 1813-1847 supersedes and continues this series after 1823. The registers are labelled with various numbering and lettering systems and overlap in dates because they were originally maintained by four different clerks.