The complainant’s delivery of his account to the master in chancery and the defendant’s filing of his defense thereto.
The complainant’s delivery of his account to the master in chancery and the defendant’s filing of his defense thereto.
Under the former system of equity practice, this phrase was used to characterize the usual method of taking an account before a master. After the plaintiff had presented his "charge," a written statement of the items of account for which he asked credit, the defendant filed h counter-statement, called a "discharge," exhibiting any claims or demands he held against the plaintiff. These served to define the field of investigation, and constituted the basis of the report