Catalogue description Records of the Central Office

A Central Office of the Supreme Court of Judicature was established under the Supreme Court of Judicature (Officers) Act 1879 taking over the following offices:-

(i) from the Chancery Division of the High Court

Record and Writ Clerks' Office Enrolment Office Report Office (In 1855 the Report Office, being part of the former Office of Master of Reports and Entries, had been added to the Record and Writ Clerks' Office.)

(ii) from the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court

Masters' Office Associates' Office Crown Office Bills of Sale Office

(iii) from the Common Pleas Division of the High Court

Masters' Office Associates' Office Registry of Certificates of Acknowledgments of Deeds by Married Women Registry of Judgments

(iv) from the Exchequer Division of the High Court

Masters' Office Associates' Office Queen's Remembrancer's Office

In 1889 the residual work of the Clerk of the Petty Bag, whose post had been abolished on falling vacant, passed to the Crown Office. In 1900 the Office of the Registry of Judgments passed to the Land Registry under the Land Charges Act 1900. In 1902 the work the Chancery Taxing Office was merged with similar work undertaken in the Central Office for the Queen's Bench Division to form a new department known thereafter as the Supreme Court Taxing Office. In 1922 the Criminal Appeal Office became part of the Central Office.

Under the Administration of Justice Act 1925 the responsibility for the registration and custody of deeds of arrangement was taken over by the Bankruptcy Department of the Board of Trade from the Bills of Sale Office. In 1927 the Scrivenery Department, which had first been established in 1891, was attached to the Central Office as the Copying and Typing Department although remaining responsible to the permanent secretary to the Lord Chancellor.

The organisation of the Central Office under the act of 1879 was not at first successful and consequently the Lord Chancellor appointed a committee in 1886, under the chairmanship of Lord Coleridge, to examine the matter and make recommendations. This resulted in some reduction of staff and the introduction of a new system of organisation and control. The work of the Central Office revolves particularly around the Queen's Bench Division whose masters head the various departments under the general superintendence of the senior master, who is also Queen's Remembrancer.

With the exception of the Crown Office and Associates' Department the secretarial work of the Queen's Bench masters is conducted through a separate department under the masters' secretary. This officer is also chief clerk to the Queen's Remembrancer. In addition to his work under the latter head his responsibilities include the transmission to the Foreign Office from any division of the High Court of requests for the service of English process in foreign courts; dealing with requests for evidence etc from abroad; judgment debtors' examinations; administration of infants' and widows' funds; and Parliamentary and municipal election petitions.

Duties arising from the issue of writs and summonses for both the Queen's Bench and Chancery Divisions are the responsibility of the Action Department. Both these divisions also share the services of a Filing and Record Department which also undertakes the enrolment of deeds and the registration of bills of sale. The preparation of daily cause lists etc is the responsibility of the clerk of the lists. Staff administration throughout all departments of the Central Office is the responsibility of a chief clerk; another chief clerk deals with all appeals and applications to the judge in chambers.

The Queen's Remembrancer's Office was constituted part of the Central Office of the Supreme Court under the Supreme Court of Judicature (Officers) Act 1879. The same act provided that upon a vacancy in the office of the queen's remembrancer it should be filled by the senior master of the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer Divisions. As a consequence of the merger of these three divisions in 1881, the senior master of the Queen's Bench Division is today also Queen's Remembrancer.

Traditionally, the Queen's Remembrancer was responsible for collecting debts due to the crown but this work no longer claims a great deal of his time. Until the practice was ended by the Law of Property Act 1925 he also acted from 1879 as registrar of certificates of acknowledgment of deeds by married women.

In 1950, for purposes of trial, revenue matters by way of petition or case stated from decisions of the commissioners of income tax etc passed from the Queen's Bench to the Chancery Division of the High Court; in 1963 the related administrative work also passed to that division from the Queen's Remembrancer. Since that time, apart from a limited amount of litigious work in connection with unpaid fines etc the duties of the Queen's Remembrancer have been confined mainly to more formal matters long associated with his office.

These include the enrolment of certain deeds on the memoranda rolls; attendance at the trial of the pyx, and subsequent enrolment of the trial and verdict; enrolment of Lord Chancellors' oaths of office; issue of writs of assistance to officers of the Board of Customs and Excise granting them search powers; functions relating to sheriffs' accounts, including the acceptance, on behalf of the crown, of the token rents payable by the corporation of the city of London at the annual Quit Rents Ceremony; receiving the nomination of sheriffs for England and Wales; swearing in of the Lord Mayor of London before the Lord Chief Justice; keeping safe custody of the seal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer; and the issue of enclosure commissions under the Dean and New Forests Act 1808.

The secretary to the Queen's Bench masters also acts as chief clerk to the Queen's Remembrancer.