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CHANCERY CHANDLER 259 acquire the absolute title. In general, how- ever, all courts, chancery included, must give the same effect to positive laws, and must be subject to the same rules of interpretation, and there might be cases of extreme hardship in which equity could afford no relief whatever. In the exercise of its original jurisdiction chan- cery gave relief against fraud, accident, or mis- take in contracts, and for this purpose might set aside written instruments, or reform them to make them conform to the real agreement of the parties ; might take accounts in partner- ship or other mutual dealings which were too complex to be properly tried by jury; might compel the specific performance of contracts for the conveyance of lands, and in a very few other cases where the recovery of damages would be an inadequate remedy ; might com- pel the execution of trusts, either express or implied, and exercise a general supervision over charities. The chancellor had also com- mitted to him the general custody of infants, idiots, and lunatics, and appointed guardians of their persons and estates, to act under the direction of the court. One of the most im- portant branches of its jurisdiction was the issuing of injunctions to stay proceedings in other courts where they were being taken against equity, to stay waste, to restrain in- fringements of patents or copyrights, to pre- vent nuisances, to enjoin the negotiation of bills, &c., where the party would be deprived of a remedy thereby, and generally to prevent irremediable injury. In many cases it aided the courts of law, by compelling parties to suits in them to make discovery of facts, by perpetuating testimony otherwise in danger of being lost, and sometimes by enjoining the set- ting up of an inequitable defence. Proceedings in equity have differed from those at law prin- cipally in three particulars : 1, in the proofs, the complainant being at liberty to compel the defendant to give evidence by his answer ; 2, in the mode of trial, which formerly was by taking the written depositions of witnesses, upon which the judge passed without the aid of a jury ; and 3, in the mode of relief, which at law was usually the award of damages, while in equity a specific execution of contracts might, as we have seen, in some cases be compelled, and in others damages might be anticipated and enjoined. Equitable remedies have until recently been administered in England by the lord high chancellor, assisted by three vice chancellors and the master of the rolls, and also by two lords justices sitting with the chan- cellor as a court of appeal. Formerly the court of exchequer also had equitable jurisdiction. The court of chancery was formerly the sub- ject of very serious complaints because of its delays and expenses, but these were obviated to a considerable extent by the abolition of the office of master in chancery, and by giving the court authority to order the testimony to be taken in open court, and in its discretion to summon a jury for the trial of disputed ques- tions of fact. Even these, however, have not satisfied the demands of reform. For more than a quarter of a century a sentiment has been growing and strengthening in England that the distinctions between law and equity, in their principles as well as in their adminis- tration, were unnecessary, illogical, expensive, and vexatious ; and this has culminated at last in the act of Aug. 5, 1873, matured and sup- ported by the lord chancellor himself, which consolidates all the superior courts of England, including the court of chancery, into one su- preme court of England, which is to be pre- sided over by the lord chancellor, and, without distinguishing between law and equity, to ad- minister justice on equitable principles. The old forms of pleading are abolished ; the sum- mons by which the suit is commenced is in- dorsed with a statement of the nature of the claim made or the relief or remedy sought, the defendant files a statement of his defence, and the plaintiff replies if a reply is needful. Causes will be tried before one or more of the judges, sitting with or without assessors or a jury, or may be sent to a referee for hearing. (See COUET.) In the jurisprudence of nearly all the United States equity law is administered by the same judges who sit in law cases, but under the forms prevailing in England before the recent changes. Some of the individual states have never had any distinct equity system, but in these equitable remedies have to some ex- tent been administered under legal forms. In others there has been a separate court of equity ; in others still equity law has been ad- ministered by the law judges as under the federal system. New York led off in 1848 with a code which abolished all the forms of action, and substituted a simple statement of the party's case in a complaint for the former declaration at law and bill in equity ; thereby seeking to abolish the distinction between law and equity. Several other states have followed this example. CDANDERNAGORE, a French colony in India, on the Hoogly, 17 m. N. of Calcutta ; pop. about 29,000, of whom a few hundred are Europeans and the rest Hindoos. The settlement includes, besides the town, an island in the river and several villages, with an aggregate population of about 40,000. The quays of the town are fine, and the streets are in good condition ; yet it presents a dilapidated appearance, though there are vestiges of former splendor and many Hindoo temples. The main occupation of the inhabitants is raising cattle. The principal ex- port is opium. This settlement was ceded in 1688 to the French East India company, and flourished under Dupleix. The English cap- tured the town in 1757, and dismantled the for- tifications. Restored to France in 1763, it again became an English possession in 1793. In 1816 it was returned to France, but has lost al- most all its former importance. CHANDLER, Richard, an English archaeologist, born at Elson, Hampshire, in 1738, died at