II.   Sovereign

A Roll is a legal term modified in the 16th Century and applied to certain official records of government whether they be continuous linen scrolls, schedules, registers or stitched bound parchments relating specifically to lists of Persons within the custody, control, contract, franchise, agreement, bond, debt, obligation or ownership of a body politic, company or entity.

The term “Roll” is derived from the ancient 8th Century Carolingian system of “Maner Role” that had continued in England whereby a Baron of a manor was originally required to keep and maintain certain key records on separate continuous linen rolls per year including tenants and grants, inflow and outflow of property and monies and records of the settlement of disputes and crimes.

In 1545, King Henry VIII (1509-1547) of England issued “An act for custos rotulorum and the clerkship of the peace” (37 Hen. VIII. c.1) whereby an office called the “keeper of the rolls” or custos rotulorum as “clerk of the peace” was created in every shire of England. The Custos Rotulorum or Shire Clerk was then responsible for maintaining key records of the shire including all warrants, bills, disputes and court judgments, land owners, land values and taxes associated with the Assessment Rolls.

From the 16th Century, Parliamentary Statutes were also updated to ensure the originals were kept on linen scrolls in honor of the ancient Sacred Laws of the Carolingians and the maintenance of a true chancery under such law.