Catalogue description Records of the Clerk of the Crown and the Crown Office
Reference: | Division within C |
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Title: | Records of the Clerk of the Crown and the Crown Office |
Description: |
Records arising from the varied duties of the clerk of the Crown in Chancery. Entry books of petitions to the chancellor, 1756-1858, are in C 28 Orders in Council, 1703-1891, mostly relating to Irish affairs, are in C 183. Copies of bills passed in Irish parliaments are in C 86 Warrants for various categories of instrument under the great seal are in C 186, C 188 and C 235. Bails relating to the issue of pardons are in C 237 Lord chancellor's fiats for the issue of commissions and appointments are in C 189, C 190, C 191, C 192 and C 234. Docket books of commissions and appointments are in C 231 and C 232. Entry books and other records relating to judicial and other commissions, 1601-1673, are in C 181 and C 182. Oath rolls and entry books are in C 184 Surviving draft letters patent are in C 197, with a few originals in C 248 Records of the Court of Claims, convened by the clerk of the Crown, are in C 57 and C 195. Miscellaneous books and records, including many exemplifying the work of the Crown Office and the duties of the clerk of the Crown, are in C 193 and C 194. Crown Office accounts, 1783-1870, are in C 185 Petitions and fiats for presentations to benefices are in C 196 Certificates of election of coroners and verderers are in C 242 |
Date: | 1283-1985 |
Related material: |
For further records of the Crown Office see |
Held by: | The National Archives, Kew |
Legal status: | Public Record(s) |
Language: | English |
Creator: |
Chancery, Clerk of the Crown, 1300-1875 Lord Chancellor's Department, Crown Office, 1972- Lord Chancellor's Office, Clerk of the Crown, 1875-1972 |
Physical description: | 26 series |
Administrative / biographical background: |
As the work of Chancery developed rapidly in complexity during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, one of the original and primary functions, the use of the great seal, gradually acquired its own specialised staff within the Chancery. While the routine use of the seal was carried out by the cursitors, its application in special cases (and, according to a sixteenth-century tradition, any use of the seal 'that toucheth either life or member') was supervised by the principal of the twelve clerks of the second rank (collectively known as 'bougiers' or 'bouchiers'). This chief clerk was already known by the late fourteenth century as a 'clerk of the Crown', and, with the gradual separation of the judicial from the administrative functions, he became the chancellor's most senior executive assistant; in theory he had to attend the lord chancellor continually, in person or by deputy. This seniority has continued to the present day; since 1885, the clerk of the Crown has been, in addition, permanent secretary of the Lord Chancellor's Office (later, Department). This clerk's department within Chancery came to be known as the Crown Office. The clerk of the Crown in Chancery had a wide range of duties arising from his responsibility, under the chancellor, for use of the great seal, of which the principal were as follows:
Many of these functions, once initiated by the clerk of the Crown, were processed subsequently by the clerks of the Petty Bag, and relevant records came to be deposited in the Petty Bag Office rather than in the Crown Office. The origins of the Crown Office in the House of Lords are to be found in Chancery and in a number of offices which, in the course of the nineteenth century, were absorbed by or brought under the direction of the clerk of the Crown in Chancery. Moreover, when in 1885 the clerk of the Crown in Chancery came to retire the opportunity was taken to amalgamate his post with that of the permanent secretary to the lord chancellor. Since that time the Crown Office, otherwise the Office of the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, has formed part of the Lord Chancellor's Office taking over responsibility for ecclesiastical patronage work in 1890 and for funds held in the Pay Office of the Supreme Court of Judicature in 1926. The formal duties of the clerk of the Crown in Chancery may be divided into two categories: those which are parliamentary in character and those associated with the authentication of royal acts. In the House of Lords he issues writs of attendance and summonses addressed to peers, commissions to summon and prorogue Parliament, and commissions for giving the royal assent to bills; he receives and certifies to Parliament the returns of election of Scottish representative peers; reads the titles of bills prior to the royal assent; acts as registrar to the lord chancellor acting as lord high steward; and is registrar to the coronation Court of Claims. In the House of Commons he makes out and issues parliamentary election writs and receives and certifies to the House election returns. His duties in the second category comprise the issue of warrants and patents of appointment and honour, licences in mortmain, commissions of service, pardons and proclamations under the great seal. |
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