Hi David,

Just thought you might enjoy the historical derivation of the word prothonotary. It originated in medieval England in the earliest days of the circuit judges. At that time most of the population was illiterate. The prothonotary served the same function as the modern day court clerk/court stenographer...wrote down and preserved the court's rulings for use as legal pecedant in common law cases. Eventually English common law was brought to this country, and became our system of justice. The term prothonatory has for the most part become an obsolete term in the courts. I was surprised to hear that it is still in use in some areas of the country with respect to land titles.

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