WITH NOTES AND REFERENCES TO LATE DECISIONS, DETROIT: FREE PRESS BOOK AND JOB PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT. 1872. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, BY HENRY N. WALKER, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. CASES DETERMINED IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY FOR THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, BY ELON FARNSWORTH, CHANCELLOR, From his appointment in 1836, to March, 1842. PREFACE TO ORIGINAL EDITION. The volume which is now presented to the public contains all the decisions made by the Hon. Elon Farnsworth while acting as Chancellor, which have been preserved. Prior to the year 1836, there was no court of equity distinct and separate from the courts of law. The Ordinance of Congress of 1787, for the government of the territory northwest of the River Ohio, did not establish a distinct and separate tribunal for the exercise of powers usually conferred upon courts of chancery. Neither did it vest in the courts of law any authority to exercise such powers. The provision relative to the legislative power authorized the governor and judges to adopt such laws of the original States as might be necessary and best suited to the circumstances of the district, which were to be in force unless disapproved of by Congress. Among the earliest acts of the territorial government of Michigan, was one relative to the jurisdiction of the courts, which was passed July, 1805, and declared that the Supreme Court should have original and exclusive jurisdiction in all cases, both in law and equity, where the title of lands was in question, but no suit in equity should be sustained in any case when adequate remedy could be had at law. The same statute provided that "on trial of cases in equity, oral testimony and the examination of witnesses in open court should be admitted." In 1820 the Governor and Judges, who were still vested with the legislative power, passed an act directing the mode of proceeding in suits in chancery. By this law the county courts of the several counties were invested with jurisdiction in all cases properly cognizable in a court of chancery, in which plain, adequate and complete remedy could not be had at law, where the title to land was not in question, and when the sum or matter in dispute did not exceed the sum of one thousand dollars; and the Supreme Court had jurisdiction in all cases where the title of lands was in question, and where the sum or matter in dispute exceeded the sum of one thousand dollars. The Supreme Court had also appellate jurisdiction in all cases heard and determined in the county courts. In 1823, some doubts having arisen as to the powers of the courts, Congress passed an act declaring that "the powers and duties of the judges of the said territory should be regulated by such laws as are or |