Danville (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1842-1913, consists of cases concerning issues of equity brought largely by residents of the county and filed in the circuit court. These cases often involve the following actions: divisions of estates or land, disputes over wills, disputes regarding contracts, debt, divorce, and business disputes. Other less prevalent issues include freedom suits, permissions to sell property, and disputes concerning trespass. Predominant documents found in these chancery causes include bills (documents the plaintiff's complaint), answers (defendant's response to the plaintiff's complaint), decrees (court's decision), depositions, affidavits, correspondence, lists of heirs, deeds, plats, wills, records involving enslaved individuals, business records or vital statistics.

Commonly found surnames among the plaintiffs and defendants include Adams, Anderson, Ayres, Bass, Bethell (also spelled Bethel), Boisseau, Boswell, Brown, Cabell, Carter, Claiborne, Clark, Coleman, Coles, Conrad, Corbin, Cosby, Crawley, Crews, Crumpton, Davis, Elliott, Ferrell, Fitzgerald, Freeman, Fuller, Gerst, Gravely, Graves, Green, Hairston, Hall, Harris, Harrison, Harvey, Hill, Holland, Hunt, Hutchings, Johnson, Johnston, Jones, Keen, Lawson, Lewis, Lipscomb (also spelled Lipscombe), Martin, Miller, Millner, Mitchell, Moore, Motley, Noell, Pace, Pairo, Patton, Penn, Richardson, Robertson, Robinson, Scott, Smith, Spencer, Stokes, Swanson, Talbott, Taylor, Thomas, Waddill, Walker, Walters, Watkins, Watson, White, Williams, Williamson, Wilson, Withers, Wood, Wooding, and Yates.

The Bank of Danville is the primary defendant in 12 suits that ended between 1890 and 1912. The Town of Danville is involved in 13 suits that ended between 1860 and 1890 as the primary defendant, while the City of Danville is the primary defendant in 10 suits that ended between 1890 and 1913.