This series of king's bills preserved in the Signet Office contains bills which were either prepared in the Signet Office itself, or which were sent there by order of one of the law officers of the crown.
Of the king's bills prepared under the auspices of either the attorney general or the solicitor general, most are for patents for inventions. There are also bills for licences of mortmain, letters of denization, grants of lighthouse tolls, markets, and charters of incorporation; bills for commissions and appointments to office; and bills for the creation of peerages and the bestowal of temporal dignities (which were prepared exclusively by the attorney general).
Among the king's bills which were prepared by the clerks of the signet are grants of places of almsmen in royal foundations and the authorisation of expenditure by various branches of government. There are also bills for ecclesiastical presentations in the royal gift, and bills relating to episcopal translations, including those for congé d' élire, assent, and the restitution of temporalities.
The National Archives
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