9. “[A]n English bill in the Exchequer.” That part of the report of Veale v. Warner beginning, “But it was a case of the greatest hardship * * * “ is not a part of the record, but is simply the reporter’s justification of his own tactics. An English bill was a bill in equity, so-called because it was written in English rather than in the Latin of the common law courts.

As we will see, many instances of fraud and overreaching did not constitute defenses at law, but when such factors were established equity would enjoin a victorious plaintiff from enforcing the judgment at law. But how could such relief be obtained in Exchequer, which was a common law court? The answer is that Exchequer had an equity side.