Legal Definitions - Six Clerks

The Six Clerks refers to a specific group of historical legal officials within the English Court of Chancery, which was a court primarily dealing with matters of equity, trusts, and property disputes.

Their main responsibility was to manage and organize the vast number of legal documents submitted to the court. This included receiving, filing, and maintaining all pleadings (formal statements of claims or defenses) and other important papers related to ongoing cases. Essentially, they acted as the central record-keepers for the Court of Chancery.

The office of the Six Clerks was abolished in 1842, and their duties were subsequently transferred to other court officials, such as the Clerk of Enrollments in Chancery and the Clerks of Records and Writs, as part of broader reforms to the English legal system.

Here are some examples illustrating the role of the Six Clerks:

• Imagine a wealthy merchant in London in 1810 who believes he has been defrauded in a business deal. His solicitor would draft a formal document, known as a "bill," outlining the merchant's complaint and seeking a remedy from the Court of Chancery. This crucial document would then be physically delivered to the office of the Six Clerks, who would officially receive it, stamp it with the court's date, and place it into the appropriate case file, thereby formally initiating the legal proceedings.

  This illustrates how the Six Clerks were the gatekeepers for new cases, ensuring that initial pleadings were properly recorded and entered into the court system.

• Consider a complex inheritance dispute in the 1820s, where a family member needs to submit an affidavit (a sworn written statement) to support their claim. After the affidavit is prepared and sworn before a commissioner, it would be taken to the Six Clerks. They would be responsible for accepting this document, ensuring it was correctly identified with the ongoing case, and then meticulously adding it to the official court file for that specific dispute.

  This example highlights their role in managing the flow of ongoing case documents, ensuring all submitted papers were properly integrated into the court's records.

• Suppose a judge presiding over a lengthy property boundary dispute in the 1830s needed to review all the arguments and evidence submitted by both parties over several years before making a final decision. The judge's staff would make a request to the Six Clerks. The Clerks, having maintained the comprehensive and organized files for every case, would then retrieve all the relevant pleadings, petitions, and responses, providing the judge with a complete and accurate historical record of the proceedings.

  This demonstrates their critical function in maintaining accessible and accurate court records, which were essential for judges and other legal professionals to review the history of a case.