Definition
Of Lancaster designates an officer — the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster — before whom, or before whose deputy, the Court of the Duchy Chamber of Lancaster was held. This was a specialized equity tribunal with jurisdiction over matters relating to lands held of the Crown in right of the Duchy of Lancaster. Its subject matter was confined to equitable claims touching duchy lands, functioning in parallel to (but distinct from) the broader equity jurisdiction of the Lord Chancellor sitting in Chancery.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering this phrase in older English legal materials should understand it as a jurisdictional marker, not merely a title. Documents issued from or referencing proceedings "of Lancaster" signal that the underlying dispute concerned land tenure connected to the Duchy — a distinct feudal patrimony of the Crown, not the general royal demesne. This matters for several reasons.
First, the Duchy of Lancaster's records constitute a separate archive. Proceedings before the Duchy Chamber do not appear in Chancery rolls or common law court records. Researchers tracing land titles, equity pleadings, or jurisdictional disputes involving Lancashire holdings may need to consult duchy records specifically.
Second, the temporal window matters. The Court of the Duchy Chamber of Lancaster was abolished along with other prerogative and equity courts in the mid-nineteenth century as part of English court reform. References to this jurisdiction in source materials therefore place the underlying transaction or dispute before abolition. Post-reform materials referencing duchy lands will route through ordinary Chancery or common law channels.
Third, the phrase "of Lancaster" as used in Black's signals a residual constitutional curiosity: the Duchy of Lancaster continues to exist as a Crown entity, with the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster persisting as a Cabinet-level office in the United Kingdom government — though entirely stripped of its original judicial functions. Researchers reading modern English constitutional materials will encounter the title in a purely administrative, non-judicial context.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary provides a compact but accurate account, citing Hobart's Reports and Blackstone's Commentaries (3 Bl. Comm. 78). Blackstone's treatment confirms the court's equity character and its jurisdictional restriction to duchy lands specifically. The citation to Hobart (Hob. 77) reflects the court's early operation and the development of its equitable practice.
Historical dictionaries are sparse on this entry because the term functions more as a title-of-office reference than a freestanding legal doctrine. What the historical sources collectively confirm is the court's dual identity: it was a royal prerogative court in the sense that it derived from the Crown's peculiar relationship to duchy property, yet it exercised equity jurisdiction in the manner of Chancery rather than proceeding by common law forms. This hybrid character is what distinguishes it from ordinary royal courts and from the general equity side of Chancery.
Historical sources do not fully address the court's abolition or the modern persistence of the Chancellor's title in a non-judicial role — a gap that matters for researchers working across pre- and post-reform periods.
Jurisdictional Note
This is exclusively an English legal institution. The Duchy of Lancaster has no counterpart in American, Scottish, or Irish legal systems. Researchers working in comparative or colonial legal materials should note that duchy jurisdiction did not extend to colonial territories; American land title disputes routed through English common law or equity courts, not duchy proceedings.