What does "ads" stand for in a Chancery Court record index? I found the following index page at Family Search: ![enter image description here]( I would like to know what "ads" stands for in the unlabeled column and what it implies. Does it stand for "administrator"and imply that that person to the right administered the estate of the person to the left?

These are chancery court cases.

_Ads_ is an abbreviation for _ad sectam_ , Latin for "at the suit of". The alternative is _vs_ for _versus_.

The difference is that for papers associated with the defendant entering the plea, the names are written [defendant] _ads_ [plaintiff]. For papers associated with the plaintiff filing charges, the names are written [plaintiff] _vs_ [defendant].

For example, the first file on the snippet given, Shannon _ads._ Newman, Joseph Shannon is the defendant at the suit of plaintiff Alex Newman.