Definition
The Clerk of the Parliaments is the principal permanent official of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, responsible for the official record-keeping, authentication, and administrative functions of that chamber. The office is ancient in origin and is filled by royal appointment through letters patent — formal written instruments issued under the authority of the Crown. Upon assuming office, the Clerk takes a declaration to make true entries and records of all things done and passed in Parliament, and to maintain secrecy with respect to matters treated therein.
The Clerk of the Parliaments holds a dual role: as the chief clerk of the House of Lords in its legislative capacity, and historically as keeper of the parliamentary record. The office carries responsibility for endorsing and authenticating Acts of Parliament — a function codified in statute — and for advising the House on procedure and constitutional practice.
Core Elements
The office entails the following recognized duties and characteristics:
- Appointment by the Crown via letters patent, making the position a royal office rather than an elective or internally appointed one.
- Oath or declaration of office, committing the Clerk to accurate recording of parliamentary proceedings and to secrecy regarding matters debated.
- Authentication of legislation, including the statutory duty to endorse Acts of Parliament, as directed by the Statute 33 Geo. III, c. 13 — the Clerk's endorsement serving as formal evidence of a bill's passage and royal assent.
- Custodianship of the parliamentary record, including the journals of the House of Lords and the official roll of acts.
- Advisory role on Lords procedure and privilege, exercised by the Clerk and subordinate clerks of the Parliament Office.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering this term in historical legal materials should recognize that its significance extends well beyond a clerical or administrative function. The Clerk of the Parliaments is constitutionally important because the Clerk's endorsement of a bill — required under 33 Geo. III, c. 13 — is the authoritative act that formally records royal assent and transforms a bill into an Act of Parliament. Questions about the validity or date of an Act in historical sources may require tracing the Clerk's endorsement rather than simply the date of passage in the Commons.
The Rapalje & Lawrence entry trails off mid-sentence ("is directed to indorse on every..."), leaving unquoted the remainder of the statutory provision concerning endorsement procedure. Researchers relying solely on that dictionary entry will miss the operative content of the Statute of 33 Geo. III, c. 13, which is the clause giving the Clerk's endorsement its evidentiary and authenticating force. Consulting the statute directly is essential.
Because this is an exclusively English and later British constitutional office, American researchers will find the term in historical materials primarily through its treatment in Erskine May's Parliamentary Practice — the treatise both Black's and Rapalje & Lawrence cite as authority — and in imported English legal authorities used by early American courts and practitioners. The office has no American counterpart: the United States Congress has separately constituted clerks for each chamber (Clerk of the House; Secretary of the Senate), neither of which carries the same constitutional or authenticating function as the Clerk of the Parliaments.
Researchers working with pre-1832 English parliamentary materials should note that the House of Lords at that time exercised both legislative and judicial functions, and the Clerk of the Parliaments accordingly appears in records relating to impeachment proceedings and judicial appeals as well as ordinary legislation.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary and Rapalje & Lawrence provide substantively identical entries, suggesting both drew from a common source — almost certainly Erskine May's Parliamentary Practice, which both dictionaries explicitly cite (May, Parl. Pr. 238). Neither entry attempts original synthesis; both function as condensed extracts of May.
The notable point of divergence is Rapalje & Lawrence's incomplete quotation of the statutory obligation under 33 Geo. III, c. 13. Black's omits any reference to this statute entirely, while Rapalje & Lawrence raises it but truncates the sentence, an apparent typographical or editorial error in the original printing. This makes Rapalje & Lawrence marginally more informative on the authenticating function, but neither dictionary adequately conveys the constitutional weight of the endorsement duty.
Both dictionaries classify the Clerk as "one of the chief officers" of the House of Lords, language that accurately places the role in the hierarchy without overstating it. The Clerk of the Parliaments is senior to the clerks of committees and the reading clerks, but the actual presiding officer of the House of Lords is the Lord Speaker (formerly the Lord Chancellor). Historical sources occasionally blur this distinction.
Jurisdictional Note
This office is specific to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and its antecedents in the Parliament of England and later Great Britain. It has no direct equivalent in American federal or state law. Researchers outside English and British constitutional law will encounter this term only in comparative or historical contexts.