The duties of the office are threefold:—first, those connected with the petty-bag or law side of the Court; secondly, preparing and issuing certain writs specified in the schedule to the Act of 4 Geo.
[5] In 1868 the Public Record Office of Ireland catalogued the older records it archived from the Hanaper office thus:[6] A mandate from Edward IV enumerates "that the Clerc of the Hanapier continuelly receive the fees of the sele of writts, comisssions, and patents, and also all suche fynes as shall be made in the Chaunsery, and thereupon pay the Chaunsellor his fees, wages and rewardes accustomed, and deliver the remnant unto the Kyng's Ex[checquer].
In 1789, the Attorney-General for Ireland told the Irish House of Commons that it had "been a matter of necessity to purchase home the office of Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper to the court of Chancery; the person who had held that employment had been for twenty years an absentee, during which time the business had been done in such an irregular and slovenly manner, that a reform was indispensable".
[10] The 1817 commissioners noted disapprovingly that the appointed Clerk was paid £1800 annually by a deputy who in return kept all the fees chargeable by the office.
[3] They recommended that the Clerk should be paid a fixed salary and required to execute the office in person rather than by deputy;[3] this was mandated by the Court of Chancery (Ireland) Acts of 1823 and 1836.
[4] The 1859 commissioners recommended that the office be abolished, its few functions transferred elsewhere in Chancery, and the prolix form of its documents be simplified to reduce the cost of scriveners.
[18][19] The office's residual statutory election functions were formally transferred to the Department of Local Government and Public Health when that was established under the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924.