THe Bill , 1. Complains of 3 Mischiefs 1. Disorders . 2. Delays . 3. Unnecessary Expence . The Cause assigned is The want of a competent number of experienced Attorneys to dispatch the business , which will best appear on examination . 2. The Remedy provided is 1. The increase of the number of Attorneys proportionable to the business , and in that their qualifications of experienced & able Clerks bred up in the Office as they anciently were and ought to be , prout patet per Stat. 12. R : c . 2. 12 & 14 , & 15. H. 8. 2. The abatement of Fees , 1. In Copies from 8 d . to 4 d per fol. 2. In tak ng away the ingrossed Bill annexed to Commissions , being 6 d . per fol. And neither of these can in themselves be prejudicial to the Subject , but are of great advantage .

The Six Clerks Reasons or Objections against the Bill are ,

1. That they are antient ( 1 ) Officers , and have been time out of ( 2 ) mind , in the same Condition as now they are , and have been incorporated ( 3 ) by Act of Parliament , and several Letters ( 4 ) Patents .

Answ . 1. They are , and anciently were but Clerks or Attorneys , propriis manibus scribentes , under the Mr. of the Rolls ( the Mr. of the Office ) in whose name all Writs pass , and as such receive the Attorneys Fee of 3 s . 4 d .

2. This is denyed , and the contrary will be proved in several instances : or , if they were , it makes the matter more Parliamentary ; and if a Grievance , 't is conceived ought to be remedied .

3. They are not incorporated as Attorneys : 31 H. 8. there is an Act , That for having the House [ ONLY ] where the Office is kept , they are Incorporated : but that shews that the Parliament thought not fit to incorporate them to any other end ; for the very reason ( 't is not unlikely ) now alledged for increase . Besides , in 31 H. 8. six Attorneys were then more competent for the business then 60 now .

4. 't is true , that 16 Eliz . they and the 3 Clerks of the Petty-bagg are incorporated as Clerks of the Inrolments , &c. with which this Bill does not intermeddle . And 11 Car . 1. they got a Patent to Incorporate them as Attorneys ( to prevent the increase of their number ) that no more should be made then six : with power to make By-laws to divide the Clients amongst them by the Letters of the Alphabet ( as it was by the late Lord Chancellors Ordinance ) and with a Grant of some incroached Fees , and such like , which being in the nature of a Monopoly , and against Law , Sir Dudly Diggs then Mr. of the Rolls , finding himself grieved thereby , and that the same incroached on other Offices , on Petition to the King and Councel 3 December 1637. got the Legality thereof referred to the Judges . After several Debates , that Patent was delivered up , and never since observed by themselves or others ; and if now insisted on , 't is conceived more fit to be examined in Parliament .

Object . 2. That the Six Clerks have always had a ( 1 ) Freehold in their Offices for their Lives ; and their Fees have been ( 2 ) time out of mind . But the Clerks have had no other Interest , then as ( 3 ) Servants to them .

Answ . 1. That as they are Clerks of the Inrolments , Comptrollers or Supervisors of the Hanaper , Riding-Clerks , &c. or any thing that doth or can go in divident amongst them , their Interest in Places or Fees are not questioned ; nor does this Bill at all intermeddle therewith ; but only as they are Attorneys 'twixt Party and Party , which cannot be executed by Deputy , or go in Divident , nor on any pretence be termed a Freehold . And what if de facto they have what is alleadged ? yet , if a general Grievance ( they being but Ministers pro bono publico ) it 's the more proper and necessary to be remedied by Parliament . ( Better a particular Mischief , then a general Inconvenience . )

2. Their Fees were never confirmed , nor yet time out of mind , as now they are .

3. If the Clerks be but as Servants ( which is denied ) 't is the greater Reason for redress . 't is agreed they do ( and indeed only can do ) the business . But what obligation is on them by Oath or Fee for doing thereof ? Or what certainty hath the Client , when they may ( as the six Clerks assume , and have lately put in practice ) be turned off at pleasure ?

But these ( as many other of the Particulars objected ) amount but to the begging of the Question , or for want of matter to the framing Objections from the practice of such things as are complained of .

Object . 3. No Crime hath been pretended or objected against any of the Six Clerks in any of their Offices .

Answ . The most proper season for this will be , ( as is humbly conceived ) on examination .

Object . 4. The imployment of the Six Clerks consists as well in the immediate service ( 1 ) of the King , as in business between party ( 2 ) and party .

Answ . What concerns the King , is in the Inrolments , Riding-Clerks , &c. with which this Bill doth not meddle ; And extends onely to redress the disorders , &c. in causes between party and party : for which no six Persons can be sufficient , being an imployment that cannot be executed by Deputy .

Object . 5. That the Six Clerks onely , and not the Under-clerks , are in Law esteemed the Clerks ( 1 ) in Court , for managing the business ; and are onely answerable ( 2 ) to the Suitor for miscarriages . It is therefore requisite , that Persons of Estate and Quality should be in those Offices .

Answ . 1. The Clerks do really manage the business , and the Court and Clyentlooks on them , and calls them Clerks in Court ; and if they be not so in Law , it is the more reason they should be so . If there be onely six that by Law are bound to manage the business , and those six ( as it is evident ) cannot do it ; it is a great Argument why the Clyent shall have a greater choice .

2. They will not grant that they should forfeit their places for the fault of the Under-clerk . The Attorney , whose livelyhood depends on his imployment , lays the same to pawn for every the least miscarriage ; for which he is lyable to be turned out by the Court : whereas that which others pretend to , serves but the better to protect them against any whom they shall injure , ( and where they are but as Deputies accomptable for the profit ( as some of them are ) under a small Salary , Who shall answer for them ? )

Object . 6. Much of the Office of a six Clerk hath been executed in person .

Answ . The more reason for increase .

Object . 7. The Under-clerks led by the same levelling Principles in 1654 , procured an Ordinance from Cromwel , for making them Attornies ; but the pretended Parliament in the year 1656 set it aside .

Answ . It is humbly conceived , it is no more levelling in Chancery to make an Attorney of an ancient experienced Clerk of 40 or 50 years standing , then it is in other Courts , who walk by that rule ; and that it is the greater fault that six Gentlemen never brought up in the imployment ( as anciently they were and ought to be ) should leap over so many ancient Clerks heads , to the damage of the King and his People ; and confine the subject to so small a number , when publique good and the business of the Court requires a greater . It is denyed the Clerks procured the Ordinance : and the proceedings of a pretended Parliament , no rule for a legal Parliament .

Object . 8. Abatement of Fees is the promoters avarice .

Answ . The endeavouring a redress of a publique evil , whereof the Wisdom of the Nation in Parliament is to be the Judge , should not be branded with ignominious and reproachful terms ; and if the abatement of Fees amongst many be styled avarice , what name deserves a Pleader for continuance of exorbitant Fees , and Fees for things useless to the People , and that amongst so few as the Objectors are !

Object . 9. The multiplication of Officers , &c. that shall have the keeping of Records , will put the Subject to great charge , &c.

Answ . 1. The Master of the Rolls is Onely Officer and Record-keeper : The Six Clerks usurping the name of Officers , and making so many Offices , hath made the confusion they are in : It is conceived they will be better kept ( as in other Courts ) in one Treasury , or Record-house , under proper Alphabets , then six .

Object . 10. That when business was more then now , it was dispatched by the ( 1 ) Six Clerks , with their Under-clerks acting under them . And there can be no ground for this pretence , but that the Under-clerks would now act as Masters , without any Superiour to inspect their pr●ceedings , by whose misdemeanors alone all delays and disorders have been occasioned .

Answ . 1. No six can advise the Clyents , answer their Post-letters , manage their Causes , or draw special Writs or Decr●es , or examine the same or Copy as they ought : And to commit the doing thereof to others , who lye under no obligation of Oath or Fee , is the thing complained of : nor in case of Interpleaders , or the like , where the Cause depends on nine or ten several and distinct Interests ( as it often falls out , and there are such now depending ) can six Attornies be sufficient : for the Defendants interests being opposite one to another , some of the six Attornies must of necessity be for and against his Clyent ; which he cannot be in the same Cause , and for the same matter , if he observe his Oath .

2. The principal Question is not , whether the Clerks shall be made Attorneys ; but whether the number shall be increased , what the number shall be , and who , is left to be considered .

3. The Master of the Rolls is the onely Superiour , and can inspect them as well as his Majesties principal Officers in other Courts do a greater number .