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Library of Virginia
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Scott County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1913-1942. (Cite style of suit and chancery index no.). Local Government Records Collection, Scott County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
These items came to the Library of Virginia in transfers of court papers from Scott County.
Chancery Causes are cases of equity. According to Black's Law Dictionary they are "administered according to fairness as contrasted with the strictly formulated rules of common law." A judge, not a jury, determines the outcome of the case.
Scott County was named for Winfield Scott, a native of Virginia, in recognition of his victories during the War of 1812. It was formed from Lee, Russell, and Washington counties in 1814.
Scott County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1913-1942, are indexed into the Chancery Records Index . Cases are identified by style of suit consisting of plaintiff and defendant names. Surnames of others involved in a suit, including secondary plaintiffs and defendants, witnesses, deponents and affiants, and family members with surnames different from the plaintiff or defendant are indexed. Chancery causes often involved the following: divisions of estates or land, disputes over wills, divorces, debt, and business disputes. Predominant documents found in chancery causes include bills (plaintiff's complaint), answers (defendant's response), decrees (court's decision), depositions, affidavits, correspondence, lists of heirs, deeds, wills, business records, or vital statistics, among other items. Plats, if present, are noted, as are wills from localities with an incomplete record of wills or localities other than the one being indexed.
Chancery causes are useful when researching local history, genealogical information, and land or estate divisions. They are a valuable source of local, state, social, and legal history and serve as a primary source for understanding a locality's history.
Additional Scott County Court Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia web site. See A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm
Digital images of pre-1913 Scott County Chancery Causes are available on the Library of Virginia's Chancery Records Index .
See the Chancery Records Index to search for chancery suits of additional Virginia localities.