PROTHONOTARY

(Lat. proto-notarius, or first votary.)A title originally of the Byzantine empire. The Apostolical prothonotaries of the Papal court are officers having precedence of the other notaries or secretaries of the Roman chancery; the papal "notaries participant" rank after bishops, but before abbots. In England, officers in the courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas had this title, until the recent changes in those courts. [s. 1012]