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<DATE>2008-11-04</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="royal ordinance">
<PB REF="1"><!-- PDF PAGE 20 -->
<HEAD><HI>AN ORDINANCE made</HI> <DATE><HI>the eighteenth day of</HI> July, <HI>Anno</HI> R. R. <HI>Caroli</HI> II. 18. <HI>Ann&oacute;que</HI> D^i 1666.</DATE></HEAD>
<P>_THE Right Honorable <HI>Edward</HI> Earl of <HI>Clarendon</HI> Lord High Chancellor of <HI>England,</HI> and the Honorable Sir <HI>Harbottle Grim&s;tone,</HI> Baronet, Ma&s;ter of the Rolls, taking into their con&s;ideration the manifold di&s;orders and undue practices which in the late times have crept into the Six Clerks Office, to the great di&s;honour of this Court, the ob&s;truction of Ju&s;tice, the damage of the Client, and confu&s;ion and lo&s;s of the Records; and the &s;everal waies of redre&s;sing the &s;ame; and having divers times heard the Six Clerks and their Under-Clerks concerning the &s;ettlement by divi&s;ion of Letters, formerly (to this end) ordered by the Lord <HI>Coventry,</HI> late Lord Keeper of the Great Seal; and after long deliberation and &s;everal conferences with &s;ome of the Reverend Judges, and of the King's learned Councel, finding no expedient &s;o equal and effectual for the due filing, and ea&s;ie &s;earch of the Records, and the orderly proceeding and quick di&s;patch in all cau&s;es; nor &s;o proper to prevent the mi&s;s-laying and imbeziling the Records, and that confu&s;ion which is every day di&s;covered from thence, to the extreme &s;candal of the Court, and prejudice of the Subject, as the reviving and re-e&s;tabli&s;hing the fore&s;aid &s;ettlement: Do hereby <HI>ORDER</HI> and <HI>ORDAIN</HI> that the &s;aid Method be revived, and from henceforth ob&s;erved by the pre&s;ent Six Clerks and their Succe&s;&s;ors, and by their Under-Clerks: <HI>Viz.</HI> That the receiving, filing, bundling, and keeping of all Bills, An&s;wers, Pleadings, and all proceedings thereupon, and the making and expediting of all Exemplifications, Writs, and Copies of or concerning the &s;ame, be divided among the &s;aid Six Clerks and their Succe&s;&s;ors re&s;pectively, by and according to the letters of the Alphabet in manner following. That is to &s;ay, That all Bills, An&s;wers, and other Pleadings of Clients, in cau&s;es wherein the Plaintiffs or fir&s;t Plaintiffs Surname &s;hall begin with <HI>A, B, C, D, F,</HI> or <HI>Y,</HI> and all proceedings thereupon in the &s;aid Six Clerks Offices, be from henceforth received, filed, bundled, and kept by M^r <HI>Pindar,</HI> and M^r <HI>Bluck,</HI> or one of them, and their Succe&s;&s;ors in their Offices re&s;pectively, and by no other. And all Bills, An&s;wers, and other Pleadings of Clients, in cau&s;es wherein the Plaintiffs or fir&s;t Plaintiffs Surname &s;hall begin with <HI>E, G, H, I, K, L, M, N,</HI> or <HI>O,</HI> and all proceedings thereupon in the &s;aid Six Clerks Offices, be from henceforth received, filed, bundled, and kept by Sir <HI>Cyrill Wyche,</HI> and M^r <HI>Wilkin&s;on,</HI> or one of them, and their Succe&s;&s;ors in their Offices re&s;pectively, and by no other. And all Bills, An&s;wers, and other Pleadings of Clients, in cau&s;es wherein the Plaintiffs or fir&s;t Plaintiffs Surname &s;hall begin with <HI>P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X,</HI> or <HI>Z,</HI> and all proceedings thereupon in the &s;aid Six Clerks Offices, be from henceforth received, filed, bundled, and kept by Sir <HI>John Mar&s;ham,</HI> and M^r <HI>Longueville,</HI> or one of them, and their Succe&s;&s;ors in their Offices re&s;pectively, and by no other; in man|ner as formerly hath been done by the Six Clerks. And that all Cro&s;s Bills, Bills of Revivour, and Bills of Review, and all proceedings thereupon, be received, filed, bundled, and kept in the &s;ame divi&s;ion of letters, where the former Suit touching the &s;ame matter began, and not el&s;ewhere: And all Exemplifications, Writs and Copies of or concerning the &s;ame Bills, An&s;wers, Pleadings, and proceedings thereupon, be made and expedited by them to whom the receiving, filing, bundling, and keeping of the Re|cords doth belong, according to the allotment of letters afore&s;aid, and by no other.</P>
<P>AND it is further Ordered and Ordained, That if at any time hereafter there &s;hall happen any difference to ari&s;e betwixt any of the Six Clerks, touching any of their Under-Clerks, or touching their Clients, or their Cau&s;es, or touching the filing of any Bill, An&s;wer, or Pleading, or other thing according to the divi&s;ion of Letters afore&s;aid, or any other matters of their Offices; that then the &s;ame differences be from time to time examined by the re&s;t of the Six Clerks for the time being, whom &s;uch difference (for the pre&s;ent) &s;hall not concern; who are to decide and determine the &s;ame; or otherwi&s;e to certifie the true &s;tate of the Fact, with their Opinions, to the Ma&s;ter of the Rolls.</P>
<P>AND becau&s;e it is very manife&s;t that the&s;e mi&s;demeanors and enormities are gott<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">n into the Office of the Six Clerks by the liberty and licence which the inferiour Clerks have of late a&s;&s;umed to them&s;elves, and by their withdrawing their obedience from, and their dependence upon the Ma&s;ters of the &s;everall Offices in which they write; and by the receiving too many Clerks of little or no experience into the &s;everal Offices; it is likewi&s;e further Ordered and Ordained, that every of the Six Clerks &s;hall be limited and &s;tinted to twelve Clerks at the mo&s;t, to &s;erve immediately under him; whereof &s;ix at the lea&s;t &s;hall be expert in writing the Chancery letter: And every of tho&s;e twelve &s;hall take a corporal Oath before the Ma&s;ter of the Rolls, not to imbezil, fal&s;fie, corrupt, race, or deface any Bills, An&s;wers, Pleadings, Commi&s;sions, Depo&s;itions, Warrants, Decrees, Di&s;mi&s;sions, or other Records what&s;oever, belonging to the high Court of Chancery; and to deliver forthwith unto the Six Clerk re&s;pectively, or his Deputy, <HI>Unopened,</HI> all Commi&s;sions, and Depo&s;itions, that &s;hall come to their hands, to be kept &s;afely and &s;ecretly by the Six Clerk till Publication; and after being copied, forthwith to return them.</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE>Clarendon C.</DATELINE>
<SIGNED>Har. Grim&s;tone.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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