The Remembrancer was originally a subordinate officer of the English
Exchequer
In the civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty’s Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's '' current account'' (i.e., money held from taxation and other government revenu ...
. The office is of great antiquity, the holder having been termed remembrancer, memorator, rememorator, registrar, keeper of the register, despatcher of business.
The Remembrancer compiled memorandum rolls and thus “reminded” the barons of the Exchequer of business pending.
There were at one time three clerks of the remembrance, the
King's Remembrancer, Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer and Remembrancer of First-Fruits and Tenths (see
Court of First Fruits and Tenths). In England, the latter two offices have become extinct, the Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer being merged in the office of King's Remembrancer in 1833, and the remembrancer of first-fruits by the diversion of the fund (
Queen Anne's Bounty Act 1838). By the Queen's Remembrancer Act 1859 that office ceased to exist separately, and the monarch's remembrancer was required to be a master of the court of exchequer. The
Judicature Act 1873
The Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 (sometimes known as the Judicature Act 1873) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1873. It reorganised the English court system to establish the High Court and the Court of Appeal, and ...
attached the office to the
Supreme Court of Judicature (today called the Senior Courts), and the
Supreme Court of Judicature (Officers) Act 1879 transferred it to the central office of the Supreme Court. By section 8 of that Act, the monarch's remembrancer is a master of the Supreme Court, usually filled by the senior master. The monarch's remembrancer department of the central office is now amalgamated with the judgments and married women acknowledgements department. The monarch's remembrancer still assists at ceremonial functions, relics of the former importance of the office, such as the nomination of sheriffs, the swearing-in of the
Lord Mayor of the City of London
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
, the
Trial of the Pyx
The Trial of the Pyx () is a judicial ceremony in the United Kingdom to ensure that newly minted coins from the Royal Mint conform to their required dimensional and fineness specifications. Although coin quality is now tested throughout the year ...
and the acknowledgements of homage for crown lands.
[
]
City Remembrancer
There is the City Remembrancer, one of the City of London Corporation
The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...
's[ law officers, its parliamentary agent, and its head of ceremony and protocol.
]
Scotland
In Scotland, the office of King's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer is filled by the Crown Agent, the head of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is the independent public prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by His Majesty's Lord Advocate, who under the ...
, and represents the Crown's interests in bona vacantia
Unowned property includes tangible, physical things that are capable of being reduced to being property owned by a person but are not owned by anyone. ' (Latin for "ownerless goods") is a legal concept associated with the unowned property, which e ...
, ultimus haeres and treasure trove
A treasure trove is an amount of money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion found hidden underground or in places such as cellars or attics, where the treasure seems old enough for it to be presumed that the true owner is dead and the hei ...
.
Ireland
The Exchequer of Ireland
The Exchequer of Ireland was a body in the Kingdom of Ireland tasked with collecting royal revenue. Modelled on the English Exchequer, it was created in 1210 after King John of England applied English law and legal structure to his Lordship of ...
was also staffed by a number of Remembrancers, headed by the Chief Remembrancer, sometimes known as the Treasury Remembrancer. There are references to a Remembrancer
in the early fourteenth century, and the office of Chief Remembrancer existed by 1348, when it was held by Robert de Holywood
Robert de Holywood (died 1384) was an Irish judge and landowner who held the office of Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He was the ancestor of the Holywood family of Artane Castle, and of the St. Lawrence family, Earls of Howth. He was a substa ...
, later Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland)
The Court of Exchequer (Ireland) or the Irish Exchequer of Pleas, was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was the mirror image of the equivalent court in England. The Court of Exchequer was one of the four royal courts of justic ...
. The office of Chief Remembrancer lapsed in 1920, on the retirement of Maurice Headlam, and ceased to exist under the Irish Free State
The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...
.["An Irishman's Diary" '']Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' 12/09/2000
See also
{{portal, Politics
References
Exchequer offices
Judiciary of England and Wales
Political office-holders in England