Chancery: Crown Office: Fiats for Masters Extraordinary and for Commissioners to...

C 190

1683-1875

Each fiat is an authorisation from the lord chancellor or lord keeper to the clerk of the Crown in Chancery to prepare a commission empowering three named persons, or any two of them, to administer the oaths of allegiance and supremacy (as modified by the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy Act 1688), the oath of abjuration, and the oath of a master extraordinary in Chancery, to a man who had been nominated to office.

In 1853, following the Commissioners for Oaths Act, the title 'masters extraordinary in Chancery' was dropped. The officials were now designated 'commissioners to administer oaths in Chancery in England', and the fiats reflect the change. In 1858 the form of the fiat was altered to conform to the Oaths of Allegiance, etc, and Relief of Jews Act, and in 1868 the wording was changed again with the passing of the Promissory Oaths Act.

The volumes in this series are indexed according to county.

Public Record(s)

English

28 volume(s)

Topics

Religions

Legal

Race relations

The masters extraordinary, of whom there were originally two, had arisen to facilitate Chancery work in parts of the country remote from London. They took affidavits, recognizances and the acknowledgement of deeds to be enrolled in Chancery. During the sixteenth century their numbers had grown, and by approaching London too closely they began to encroach upon the work of the Chancery masters proper. Accordingly, various Chancery orders, made between 1588 and 1833, prevented them from acting within, first three, then five, twenty and finally ten miles of the capital. Masters extraordinary in Chancery were always prohibited from taking any fees belonging to the Chancery masters.