In 1859 commissioners investigating the Irish Chancery described the duties of the office thus:[2]
The office of the Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper in Chancery is regulated by the Act of 6 and 7 Wm. IV., cap. 74, which provides that the office shall consist of the Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper, and two clerks to be appointed by him.
The duties of the office are threefold:—first, those connected with the petty-bag or law side of the Court; secondly, preparing and issuing certain writs specified in the schedule to the Act of 4 Geo. IV., cap. 61; and thirdly, swearing gentlemen into office before the Lord Chancellor.
The business of the petty-bag or law side of the Court is confined to proceedings to enforce the performance of a recognizance entered into in the Court, and to proceedings in cases of debt against officers of the Court, there being an antiquated privilege appertaining to officers of the Court of Chancery, that they are not amenable in cases of debt to the ordinary tribunals of the country, but must be sued in their own Court.
Prior to the acts, enumerated thus in 1817 by commissioners into legal costs:[3]
As clerk of the Crown, it is his duty, as appears by his patent, to make out and engross all letters patent for the appointment of sheriffs; all commissions of the peace and jail delivery (clearing out of prisoners), and all process in recognizances of the staple; with some other duties, not now of frequent recurrence.
As clerk of the Hanaper, he makes out all letters patent for lands granted by the Crown; all patents of nobility, spiritual and temporal; all presentations by the Crown, to ecclesiastical dignities, and benefices; he is also to prepare and engross all charters of incorporation, grants of fairs, markets, letters of denization, pensions, offices, &c.; and all injunctions, and writs of execution of decrees in Chancery, writs of attachment, and commissions of rebellion, with other Chancery writs.
Until 1836, the Clerk was appointed by letters patent, and could himself appoint a deputy.[4] There were no statutory qualifications required for the post.[5]
A mandate from Edward IV enumerates "that the Clerc of the Hanapier continuelly receive the fees of the sele of writts, comisssions, and patents, and also all suche fynes as shall be made in the Chaunsery, and thereupon pay the Chaunsellor his fees, wages and rewardes accustomed, and deliver the remnant unto the Kyng's Ex[checquer]. upon his accomptes, which he shall make yerly therof".[7] It also mandates the clerk to appoint deputies in the King's Bench and Common Pleas to collect the fees and fines from those courts.[7]
The office of Clerk of the Hanaper is of old date in Ireland. In this office the writs relating to the suits of the subject, and the return thereon, were anciently kept in hanaperio, a hamper; while those relating to the crown were placed in parva baga, a little bag; whereon arose the names Hanaper and Petty Bag Offices.
The offices of Clerk of the Hanaper and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery were originally separate but came to be held by the same person in the seventeenth century and were later formally merged.[9] From 1888 the holder was ex officio secretary to the Lord Chancellor of Ireland.[9]
In the early centuries, the Clerk was often a qualified lawyer. He might reasonably hope for promotion to the office of Attorney-General for Ireland, or to the Bench. At least five Clerks in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries achieved judicial office, or the Attorney-Generalship. The office was an onerous one: in 1427 Stephen Roche, later Attorney-General, petitioned the Privy Council complaining of the great labours he had endured in the King's business, without reward "to his great impoverishment". The Council granted his petition and awarded him 10 marks.
Abuses
In 1789, the Attorney-General for Ireland told the Irish House of Commons that it had "been a matter of necessity to purchase home the office of Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper to the court of Chancery; the person who had held that employment had been for twenty years an absentee, during which time the business had been done in such an irregular and slovenly manner, that a reform was indispensable".[10] The 1817 commissioners noted disapprovingly that the appointed Clerk was paid £1800 annually by a deputy who in return kept all the fees chargeable by the office.[3] They recommended that the Clerk should be paid a fixed salary and required to execute the office in person rather than by deputy;[3] this was mandated by the Court of Chancery (Ireland) Acts of 1823 and 1836.[11] The 1836 act formally abolished the existing patented office (compensating the holder) and established a replacement office on a statutory basis so that it could be subject to regulation.[4] The 1859 commissioners recommended that the office be abolished, its few functions transferred elsewhere in Chancery, and the prolix form of its documents be simplified to reduce the cost of scriveners.[2]
1606–after 1619: Francis Edgeworth (brother of Edward Edgeworth[38][40]) jointly with Sir John King
1637–after 1666: George Carleton[41] (Edward Nicholas in 1628 secured the reversion on the death of King, and sold it to Carleton for £1060,[42][43] granted in 1631.[44])
Commissioners appointed to inquire into the duties of the officers and clerks of the Court of Chancery in Ireland (1859). Report. Sessional papers. Vol.(12) 2473. Dublin: Alexander Thom.
O'Connell, Maurice R. (1974). The correspondence of Daniel O'Connell. Vol.3, 1824–1828. Irish University Press for the Irish Manuscripts Commission. ISBN978-0716502043.
Otway-Ruthven, A.J. (2008). "The medieval Irish chancery". In Crooks, Peter (ed.). Government, War and Society in Medieval Ireland. Four Courts Press. pp.106–120. ISBN9781846821059.
123Commissioners of Inquiry into Courts of Justice in Ireland (1817). "Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper". First report (Chancery) with appendix. Sessional papers. Vol.10 9. pp.89–96. Retrieved 10 September 2016.; Commissioners of Inquiry into Courts of Justice in Ireland (1818). "Clerk of Crown and Hanaper". Fourth report (Offices). Sessional papers. Vol.10 140. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
123Hand, G. J. (1973). "Rules and Orders to be Observed in the Proceedings of Causes in the High Court of Chancery in Ireland, 1659". The Irish Jurist. 7: 119.
↑"Tuesday, 7th June, 1921". The Stormont Papers. Arts and Humanities Data Service. 7 June 1921. House of Commons debates Vol.1 col.1. Retrieved 10 September 2016. the Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper (Gerald Horan, Esq., K.C.) delivered to the said Arthur Irwin Dasent, Esq., a book containing a list of the names of the Members returned to serve in this Parliament
↑Clerk of Dáil Eireann (19 September 1923). "Cur Amach Riteacha [Issuing of writs]". Dáil Éireann Debate. Retrieved 10 September 2016. In compliance with Standing Order No. 3 of the Standing Orders of Dáil Eireann, I have to report that on the 9th August, 1923, immediately upon the issue of the Proclamation of that date summoning the Oireachtas to meet at Dublin on the 19th September, 1923, I issued my writs, pursuant to the relative provisions of the Electoral Act, 1923, to the following Returning Officers for the Constituencies named hereunder
↑"Writ for Vacant Seat". House of Commons debates, Vol. 3 col.113. The Stormont Papers. 14 March 1923. Retrieved 10 September 2016. I think I could hardly accept such a motion now, for the very good reason that, so far as I know, there is nobody to whom I could issue my warrant for the writ. From inquiries I have made, and information I have received, I am given to understand that there is no person at present in the North of Ireland representing the Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper, to whom my warrant would be issued, and therefore until such a person is appointed—no doubt it will be very soon—I do not see that I could accept a motion to issue my warrant when there is nobody of whom I have official cognizance to whom to issue it.
↑Gorman, Vincent (1985). "Richard, Duke of York, and the Development of an Irish Faction". Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Section C. 85C: 169–179: 176. JSTOR25506129.
123Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland (1875). "Appendix X". Seventh report with appendix. Command papers. Vol.C.1175. p.35 no.40. Retrieved 19 September 2016. Grant to Nicholas Stanyhurst and Thomas Alen; of the office of clerk or keeper of the hanaper, held by William Fitzwilliam. To hold to them and the longer liver, with such fees as Nicholas Wycombe or Richard Nangle had.—11 August, xxvii.
↑Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland (12 March 1884). "Appendix II: Continuation of the fiants of the reign of Queen Elizabeth". Sixteenth report. Command papers. Vol.C.4062. Dublin: Alex. Thom. p.82, no.5249.
↑Edwards, Anthony (1792). "1666: The list for civil affairs". Edward's Cork Remembrancer ... from the earliest period, to the year 1792. A. Edwards. p.98.
↑Shaw, William Arthur. "Nicholas, Sir Edward". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol.40. p.429. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
↑Kelly, Richard J. (31 March 1904). "The Courts, Judges, and Legal Office-Holders of Ireland in 1739". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 34 [Fifth Series, Vol. 14] (1): 20–29: 21. JSTOR25507344.
↑Woods, C. J. "Nugent, George Frederick". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
↑Jupp, P. J. "FORBES, George John, Visct. Forbes (1785-1836), of Kilren, co. Louth.". History of Parliament. Vol.1790–1820. History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 19 September 2016. What clinched matters was his father's appointment in 1815 as clerk of the hanaper, the Irish sinecure he had requested, worth £1,800 a year.
↑Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1905). "Holmes (U. O.)". Armorial families: a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour. Edinburgh: T.C. & E.C. Jack. p.679. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
↑Smith, J. G. (February 1935). "Some Nineteenth-Century Irish Economics". Economica. New Series, Vol. 2 (5): 20–32: 25. doi:10.2307/2549104. JSTOR2549104.
12"Irish Notes". The Law Times. 138 (3754): 441. 13 March 1915.
Further reading
Hughes, James L. J. (1960). Patentee Officers in Ireland, 1173–1826: Including High Sheriffs, 1661–1684 and 1761–1816. Stationery Office for the Irish Manuscripts Commission.
External links
Search by office "clk of hanaper" CIRCLE (A Calendar of Irish Chancery Letters c. 1244–1509) Department of History, Trinity College Dublin
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