MASTER OF THE ROLLS

This article appears in Volume V17, Page 873 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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MASTER OF THE ROLLS , the third member of the Supreme Court of Judicature in England, the lord chancellor, president of the chancery division, being the first, and the lord

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

justice, president of the king's bench division, being the second. At first he was the principal clerk of the chancery, and as such had charge of the records of the court, especially of the

original

ORIGINAL

writs and of all patents and grants under the

Great

GREAT

Seal. Until the end of the 15th century he was called either the clerk or the keeper of the rolls, and he is still formally designated as the master or keeper of the rolls. The earliest mention of him as master of the rolls is in an act of 1495; and in another act of the same year he is again described as clerk of the rolls, showing that his official designation still remained unsettled. About the same period, however, the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

clerks of the chancery came to be called masters in chancery, and the clerk, master or keeper of the rolls was always the first among them, whichever name they bore. In course of time, from causes which are not very easy to trace, his

original

ORIGINAL

functions as keeper of the records passed away from him and he gradually assumed a

jurisdiction

JURISDICTION
JURISDICTION, CRIMINAL LAW, DIVORCE

in the court of chancery second only to that of the lord chancellor himself. In the beginning he only heard causes in con-junction with the other masters in chancery, and his decrees were invalid until they had been approved and signed by the lord chancellor. Sitting in the Rolls chapel or in the court in Rolls yard, he heard causes without assistance, and his decrees held good until they were reversed on

petition

PETITION (Lat. for " seeking " or " praying ")

either to the lord chancellor or afterwards to the lords justices of appeal. Before any judge with the formal title of vice-chancellor was appointed the master of the rolls was often spoken of as vice-chancellor, and in theory acted as such, sitting only when the lord chancellor was not sitting and holding his court in the evening from six o'clock to ten. Only since 1827 has the master of the rolls sat in the morning hours. By the Public

Record

RECORD (Lat. recordari, to recall to mind, from cor, heart or mind)

Office Act 1838 the custody of the records was restored to him, and he is chairman of the State Papers and Historical Manuscripts Commissions. Under the Judicature Act 1875, and the Appellate

Jurisdiction

JURISDICTION
JURISDICTION, CRIMINAL LAW, DIVORCE

Act 1876, he now always sits with the lords justices in the court of appeal (which usually sits in two divisions of three judges, the master of the rolls presiding over one division), whose decisions can be questioned only in the

House

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

of Lords. The master of the rolls was formerly eligible to a seat in the

House

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

of Commonsa privilege enjoyed by no other member of the judicial bench;' but he was deprived of it by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873, which provides that all judges of the High Court of Justice and the court of appeal shall be incapable of being elected to or sitting in the
House of Commons. The master of the rolls is always sworn of the privy council. His salary is 6000 a year.
See Lord

Hardwicke

HARDWICKE, PHILIP YORKE, 1ST EARL

, Office of the Master of the Rolls.

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