PROTHONOTARY

(Lat. proto-notarius, or first notary.) 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. 1006]