CHANCELLOR, an officer supposed originally to have been a notary or scribe under the emperors, and named cancellarius, because he sat behind a lattice, called in Latin cancellus, to avoid being crowded by the people.
According to a late treatise, the chancellor originally presided over a political college of secretaries, for the writing of treaties, and other public business; and the court of equity, under the old constitution, was held before the king and his council, in the palace, where one supreme court for business of every kind was kept. At first the chancellor became a judge, to hear and determine petitions to the king, which were preferred to him; and in the end, as business increased, the people addressed their suit to the chancellor, and not to the king; and thus the chancellor's equitable power, by degrees, commenced by prescription.