Editing Court of Chancery (section)

=== Charities ===
The lord chancellor had, since the 15th century, been tasked with administering estates where the estate was to be used for charitable purposes. In ''Bailiff of Burford v Lenthall'', [[Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke|Lord Hardwicke]] suggested that the jurisdiction of the Court over charity matters came from its jurisdiction over trusts, as well as from the [[Charitable Uses Act 1601]]. Carne suggests that, as the Court had long been able to deal with such situations, the 1601 act was actually just the declaration of pre-existing custom.<ref>Carne (1928) p. 601</ref> This is illustrated by the chancellor's original jurisdiction over [[Feoffment|feoffments to uses]], which came from his original status as a clergyman, as charity had been originally enforced by the Church and the [[ecclesiastical court]]s.<ref>D (January 1862) p. 141</ref> Essentially, an owner of land could dispose of it by granting the right to use it and collect fees to another, not just by selling it. This was not valid at the common law courts but was in the Court of Chancery; the lord chancellor is reported as having said, in 1492, "where there is no remedy at common law there may be good remedy in conscience, as, for example, by a feoffment upon confidence, the feoffor has no remedy by common law, and yet by conscience he has; and so, if the feoffee transfers to another who knows of this confidence, the feoffor, by means of a subpoena, will have his rights in this Court".<ref>D (January 1862) p. 142</ref> After the reign of [[Edward IV]], if the charitable land were to be sold (or land were to be sold to create the charity) the Court of Chancery was the only place this could be done, as ecclesiastical and probate courts did not have a valid jurisdiction.<ref>D (April 1862) p. 321</ref>