Master of the Rolls [magister rotulorum, Lat.], originally the chief of a body of officers called the Masters in Chancery, of whom there were eleven others, including the Accountant-General. The Master of the Rolls subsequently became a judge of the Court of Chancery, who ranked next to the Lord Chancellor, and had the keeping of the rolls and grants which passed the Great Seal, and the records of the Chancery. All orders and decrees by him made, except such as by the course of the Court, were appropriated to the Great Seal alone, were deemed to be valid, subject, nevertheless, to be discharged or altered by the Lord Chancellor, and were not enrolled till they were signed by the Lord Chancellor, 3 Geo. 2, c. 30.
This judge, by the (English) Jud. Act, 1881, s. 2 [see now Jud. (English) Act, 1925, s. 6 (2)], now sits in the (English) Court of Appeal only. Before that Act he was the second judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice [Jud. Act, 1873, s. 31 (1)], and also an ex-officio judge of the Court of Appeal [(English) Jud. Act, 1875, s. 4] [see (English) now Jud. Act, 1925, s. 6 (2)]. Before the Jud. Acts he was (alone among the judges) allowed to sit in the House of Commons. As to appointment, qualifica-tion, salary, pension, etc., see (English) Jud. Act, 1925, ss. 6, 9, 11, 99 (4). He is a member of Rule Committee.
The Master of the Rolls enjoys other jurisdictions, e.g., over the admission of solicitors [(English) Solicitors Act, 1933 (22 & 23 Geo. 5, c. 37), s. 15]; the superintendence of public records under 1 & 2 Vict. c. 94; and (English) Judic. Act, 1925, ss. 19 and 34; and manorial documents. See MANOR.
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