Originally the judges' private clerks tasked with enrolling pleas, the clerks grew into the heads of administrative departments tasked with keeping each assize running smoothly, and at one point sat as judges in their own right.
Although a 1541 statute prohibited a clerk from actively practicing as a barrister while serving, the position offered a chance to make connections with the Westminster judges and of power in local politics, and records show that in 1657 the Oxford Circuit clerkship, for example, changed hands for the then-massive sum of £2,575.
Clerks were initially tasked only with drafting and accepting pleas, but for a period from the late 16th to mid-17th centuries they worked as full-fledged assize judges to cut down the workload.
[4] They eventually headed up an entire department of administrators to keep the assize running smoothly, and manuals written for clerks in the late 17th century attest to the complexity of their duties, which only ended when every assize plea had been written, accepted, and filed.
[6] Exceptions were occasionally made: at the 1682 Bedford Assize John Luke, the clerk represented Robert Chambers for an unspecified offence.