86 C H A 
ing up a head, and one for the contrary ; that is, it is an 
equal chance to throw a head or not. And in throwing 
a common die, which has fix faces, there are in all fix 
chances, that is, one chance for throwing an ace, or any 
other fingle point, and five chances againft it; or it is 
five to one that fuch afligned point does not come up. 
Upon this ffiibjeft, fee Demoivre, Simplon, &c. alfo Al¬ 
gebra, vol. i. p. 315; and the article Gaming, 
The ancient fortilege, or chance , M. Placette obferves, 
was inftituted in the Old Teftament, where we find fe- 
veral Handing laws and exprefs commands which pre- 
fcribed its ufe on certain cccafions. Hence the fcrip- 
ture fays, “ The lot, or chance, fell on Matthias,” when 
it was in quefti'on who fnouid fill Judas’s place in the 
apollolate. Hence alfo arofe the fortes fanclorum, or me¬ 
thod of determining things,, among the ancient Chrif- 
tians, by opening fome of the facred books, and pitching 
on the firlt verl'e they call their eye on, as a fure prog- 
noftic of what was to befal them. The fortes Homeric*, 
Virgiliance , Pranefina, &c. ufed by the heathens, were 
with the fame view, and in the fame manner. St. Au- 
guftin feems to approve of this method of determining 
things future, and owns that he had praftifed it himlelf; 
grounded on this fuppofition, that God prefides over 
chance; and on Pro-v. xvi. 33. 
CHANCE, in law, is where a man commits an un¬ 
lawful aft, by misfortune, or chance, and not by defign, 
but by a deficiency of the will; becaufe here it obferves 
a total neutrality, and doth not co-operate with the 
deed; which therefore wants one main ingredient of a 
crime. Of this, as it affefts the life of another, fee 
Murder . It is to be oblerved, however, generally, that 
if any accidental mifchief happens to follow from the 
performance of a lawful aft, the party Hands exculed 
from all guilt; but if a man be doing any thing unlaw¬ 
ful, and a confequence enfues which he did not forefee 
or intend, as the death of a man, or the like, his want 
of forefight fitall be no excule ; for being guilty of one 
offence, in doing antecedently what is in ilfelf unlawful, 
he is criminally guilty of whatever confequence may 
follow the firfi misbehaviour. 1 Hal. P. C. 39. 
CHANCE-MEDLEY, in law, fuch killing of a man 
as happens' either in felf-defence on a Hidden quarrel, or 
in the commiffion of an unlawful aft, without any de¬ 
liberate intention of doing any mifchief at all. 1 Hawk. 
P. C. c. 30. The felf-defence here meant, is that where¬ 
by a man may proteft himfelf from an affault in the 
courfe of a Hidden quarrel, by killing him who affaults 
him. And this is what the law exprefTes by this word 
chance-medley, or, as fome rather choofe to write it, 
chaud-medley ; the former of which, in its etymology, 
fignines a cafual affray, the latter an affray in the heat 
of blood or pafiion; both of them of much the fame 
import: but the former is in common fpeech too often 
erroneoufiy applied to any manner of homicide, by mif- 
adventure ; whereas it appears by Hat. 24 Hen. VIII. c. 5. 
and, in ancient law-books, that it is properly applied to 
fuch killing as happens to felf-defence, in a Hidden ren¬ 
counter. 4 Comtn. 183. 3 Inf. 55. Fojler 275. In chance- 
medley the offender forfeits his goods, but hath a pardon 
of courfe. 6 Ed. 1. c. 9. 
CHANGEABLE, adj. Accidental.—The trial there¬ 
of was cut off by the chanceable coming thither of the 
king of Iberia. Sidney. 
CHANGEFUL, adj. Hazadous, Out of ufe: 
Myfelf would offer you t’ accompany 
In this adven’trous chanceful jeopardy. Spenfer. 
CHANGF.L, /. That part of the choir of a church, 
between the altar or communion-table and the ballul- 
traue or rail that inclofes it, where the minifler is placed 
at the celebration of the communion. The word comes 
from the Latin cancellus, which in the lower Latin is ufed 
in the fame fenfe, from cancelli, “ lattices or crofs bars,” 
wherewith the chancels were anciently encompaffed, as 
C H A 
they new are with rails. The right of a feat and a fe- 
pulchre in the chancels is one of the privileges of foun¬ 
ders. The right of granting the fame indulgence to 
individuals, is in the reftor or vicar for the time being. 
CHANCELA'DE, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Dordogne : one league north-welt of Pcri- 
gueux. 
CHANCELLOR, f. [cancellarins, Lat.] A great legal 
officer, who was at firfi only a chief notary or feribe un¬ 
der the emperor, and was called cancellarius, becaufe he 
fate intra cancellos, to avoid the crowd of the p,ecple. 
This word is by fome derived from cancello, and by others 
from cancellis , an inclofed or feparated place, or chancel, 
encompafled with bars, to defend the judges, and other 
officers from the prels of the public. And cancellarius 
originally, as Lupanus thinks, fignified only the regifier 
in court; Grapharies, fell, qui confcribendis & excipiendis 
judicum aclis dant operam : but this name and officer is of 
late times greatly advanced, not only in this, but in other 
kingdoms; for the lord high chancellor is the chief ad- 
minifiratofiof jufiice, next to the fovereign, who anciently 
heard equitable caules himfelf. All other jufiices in this 
kingdom are tied to the firift rules of the law, in their 
judgments; but the chancellor hath power to moderate 
the written law, governing his judgment by the law of 
nature and confcience, and ordering all things juxta 
aquum & bonum. It has been fuggefled, that the chan¬ 
cellor originally prefided over a political college of le- 
cretaries, for the writing of treaties, grants, and other 
public bufinefs ; and that the court of equity under the 
old confiitution was held before the king and his council 
in the palace, where one fupreme court for bufinefs of 
every kind was kept: and at firfi the chancellor became a 
judge to hear and determine petitions to the king, which 
were referred to him ; and in the end, as bufinefs increaf- 
ed, the people.intitled their fuits to the chancellor, and 
not the king: and thus the chancellor’s equitable power 
had by degrees commencement by prefeription. Staund- 
ford lays, the chancellor hath two powers ; one abfolute, 
the other ordinary; meaning, that although by his ordi¬ 
nary power, in fome cafes, he muft oblerve the form 
of proceeding as other inferior judges, in his abfolute 
power he is not limited by the law, but by confcience and 
equity, according to the circumftances of things. And 
though Polydore Virgil, in his hiftory.of England, makes 
William the Conqueror the founder of our chancellors; 
yet Dugdale has (hewn that there were many chancellors 
of England long before that time, which are mentioned 
in his Origines Juridicales, and catalogues of chancellors; 
and Sir Edward Coke in his fourth Inftitute faith, it is 
certain, That both theBritilh and Saxon kings had their 
chancellors, whole great authority under their kings were 
in all probability drawn from the reafonable cultom of 
neighbouring nations and the civil law. 
He that bears this chief magiftracy, is filled the Lord 
High Chancellor of Great Britain, which is the higheft 
honour of the long robe. A chancellor may be made fo 
at will, by patent, but it is faid not for life, for, being an 
ancient office, it ought to be granted as hath been accuf- 
tomed. 2 Inf. 87. But Sir Edward Hyde, afterwards 
earl of Clarendon, had a patent to be lord chancellor for 
life, though he -was difmifled from that office, and the 
patent declared void. 1 Sid. 338. By the fiat. 5 Eliz. 
c. r8. The lord chancellor and keeper have one and the 
fame power; and therefore, fince that ftatute, there can¬ 
not be a lord chancellor and lord keeper at the fame time; 
before, there might and had been. 4 Inf. 78. Henry V, 
had a great feal of gold, which he delivered to the biftiop 
of Durham, and made him lord chancellor, and alfo ano-~ 
ther of filver, which he delivered to the biffiop of London 
to keep. But the lord Bridgman was lord keeper, and 
lord chief jufiice of the common pleas, at the fame time 5 
which offices were held not to be inconfifient. By fiat. 
1 W. & M. c. 21. Commiffioners appointed to execute 
the office of lord chancellor, may exercile all the autho- 
