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A scrivener (or
scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...
) was a person who could read and write or who wrote letters to court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or
copying Copying is the duplication of information or an artifact based on an instance of that information or artifact, and not using the process that originally generated it. With analog forms of information, copying is only possible to a limited degree o ...
written material. This usually indicated secretarial and administrative duties such as dictation and keeping
business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...
, judicial, and
historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
records for kings,
nobles Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristi ...
, temples, and cities. Scriveners later developed into
public servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
s,
accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...
s,
lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
s and petition writers, and in England and Wales, scrivener notaries.


Current role

Scriveners remain common in countries where literacy rates remain low, for example India; they read letters for illiterate customers, as well as write letters or fill out forms for a fee. Many now use portable typewriters to prepare letters for their clients. In areas with very high literacy rates, they are far less common; however, social services organizations, libraries, and the like sometimes offer assistance to service users with low literacy skills to help them fill out forms, draft official correspondence, and the like.


Etymology

The word comes from Middle English , an alteration of obsolete , from Anglo-French , ultimately from
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve ...
, itself an alteration of Latin (scribe). In
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, the word "scrivener" is used as the standard translation of , in referring to legal professions such as
judicial scrivener "Judicial scrivener" is a term used to refer to similar legal professions in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Judicial scriveners assist clients in commercial and real estate registration procedures and in the preparation of documents for litigation ...
s and
administrative scrivener is a legal profession in Japan which files government licenses and permits, drafts documents, and provides legal advice around such interactions. They are also known as Immigration Lawyers, Gyosei-shoshi Lawyers or Certified Administrative Procedur ...
s. In the
Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
, a is a writer, or a person who writes. Similarly, in
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
, is 'to write', is 'writer' and is 'secretary, scribe'.


In literature

A famous work of fiction featuring scriveners is the short story "
Bartleby, the Scrivener "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" is a short story by the American writer Herman Melville, first serialized anonymously in two parts in the November and December 1853 issues of ''Putnam's Magazine'' and reprinted with minor text ...
" by Herman Melville, first published in 1853.


Scrivener notaries

In England and Wales, a scrivener notary is a notary who is fluent in multiple languages. Scrivener notary tasks generally include authentication and drafting of legal documents for use in international contexts.


Doctrine of "scrivener's error"

The doctrine of a "
scrivener's error A clerical error is an error on the part of an office worker, often a secretary or personal assistant. It is a phrase which can also be used as an excuse to deflect blame away from specific individuals, such as high-powered executives, and ins ...
" is the legal principle that a map-drafting or typographical error in a written contract may be corrected by oral evidence if the evidence is clear, convincing, and precise. If such correction (called scrivener's amendment) affects property rights then it must be approved by those affected by it. It is a mistake made while copying or transmitting legal documents, as distinguished from a judgment error, which is an error made in the exercise of judgment or discretion, or a technical error, which is an error in interpreting a law, regulation, or principle. There is a considerable body of
case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of a l ...
concerning the proper treatment of a scrivener's error. For example, where the parties to a contract make an oral agreement that, when reduced to a writing, is mis-transcribed, the aggrieved party is entitled to reformation so that the writing corresponds to the oral agreement. A scrivener's error can be grounds for an appellate court to remand a decision back to the trial court. For example, in ''Ortiz v. State of Florida'', Ortiz had been convicted of possession of less than 20g of marijuana, a misdemeanor. However, Ortiz was mistakenly adjudicated guilty of a felony for the count of marijuana possession. The appellate court held that "we must remand the case to the trial court to correct a scrivener's error." In some circumstances, courts can also correct scrivener's errors found in primary legislation.David M Sollors, War on Error: The Scrivener's Error Doctrine and Textual Criticism: Confronting Errors in Statutes and Literary Texts, Santa Clara Law Review, 2009


See also

*
Administrative scrivener is a legal profession in Japan which files government licenses and permits, drafts documents, and provides legal advice around such interactions. They are also known as Immigration Lawyers, Gyosei-shoshi Lawyers or Certified Administrative Procedur ...
* Copy typist *
Judicial scrivener "Judicial scrivener" is a term used to refer to similar legal professions in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Judicial scriveners assist clients in commercial and real estate registration procedures and in the preparation of documents for litigation ...
*
Legal document assistant A legal document assistant (LDA, also known as "document technician," "legal document preparer," "legal technician," "online legal document provider" or "legal document clerk") in the United States is a non-lawyer who is authorized to assist with ...
* Notary * Notary public * Worshipful Company of Scriveners


References

{{Authority control Obsolete occupations Writing occupations Copying