Note 426 — Chapter XII · OBLIGATORY CIVIL MARRIAGE IN THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES
Reading edition
Mass. Col. Rec., II, 15; IV, Part I, 290; cf. ibid., I, 275, 276; and Whitmore, Col. Laws of Mass. (1660-72), 188; ibid. (1672-86), 130. But town clerks continued to act: Salem Town Rec., 148. The office of "Clark of the writts" seems to have been created in 1641, primarily to issue summons and attachments: Mass. Col. Rec., I, 344, 345. See also "Province Laws of New Hampshire," in Coll. of New Hamp. Hist. Soc., VIII, 31. Originally clerks of the writs were appointed by the general court; but later it was ordered that they should be licensed by the shire court or court of assistants. Those presented for license were first nominated in town-meeting: Mass. Col. Rec., II, 188; Dorchester Town Rec., 116; Salem Town Rec., 148, 195; Boston Town Rec. (1660-1701), 100, 103, 130, 197. Cf. Howard, Local Const. Hist., I, 90, 91, 331.