Legal Definitions - Clerk of Nichils

The term Clerk of Nichils refers to a historical legal officer, primarily associated with the English Exchequer (the treasury department of the government). To understand this role, it's helpful to first understand "nichil."

A "nichil" (pronounced "nick-ill," from the Latin for "nothing") was a legal return made by an officer, such as a sheriff, indicating that a debt or sum of money was uncollectible, or that nothing could be found to satisfy a particular obligation. Essentially, it meant "nothing owed" or "nothing found."

Therefore, the Clerk of Nichils was an officer whose duty was to identify, receive, and formally record these "nichils" into the Exchequer's accounts. This ensured that the government's financial records accurately reflected which debts or sums were genuinely uncollectible, rather than simply outstanding.

• Example 1 (Historical Tax Collection):

  Imagine a sheriff in 14th-century England tasked with collecting various taxes and fines from the populace. After diligent efforts, the sheriff might find that certain individuals had died without an estate, had fled the county, or possessed absolutely no assets from which a debt could be recovered. For these specific cases, the sheriff would make a formal report to the Exchequer, declaring these particular debts as "nichil." The Clerk of Nichils would then be responsible for receiving these reports, verifying them, and officially documenting these uncollectible sums in the royal accounts, ensuring that the treasury's ledgers accurately reflected what could not be brought in.

• Example 2 (Court Fines and Forfeitures):

  Consider a historical court where a defendant was ordered to pay a substantial fine or a forfeiture of goods. A court officer, such as a bailiff, would be dispatched to enforce this order. If the bailiff returned to report that the defendant had no property, no money, and no means to pay the fine, or that the forfeited goods simply did not exist or could not be located, this would constitute a "nichil" return for that specific obligation. The Clerk of Nichils would then be tasked with recording this "nothing found" or "nothing due" status in the court's financial records, preventing the fine from being perpetually listed as an outstanding debt that was, in reality, unrecoverable.

• Example 3 (Auditing Royal Officials' Accounts):

  During an audit of a royal official, such as a customs collector or a steward managing a royal manor, discrepancies might arise between expected revenues and actual receipts. For instance, a customs collector might report that certain duties were never collected because a merchant ship sank, or a steward might report that a tenant defaulted on rent and had no recoverable assets. If, after investigation, these specific items were genuinely determined to be uncollectible or non-existent as a source of revenue, they would be declared "nichil." The Clerk of Nichils would then formally enter these "nothing owed" or "nothing found" items into the official records, ensuring that the official was not held indefinitely accountable for sums that were genuinely beyond recovery.