The Clerk, Chief Clerk, or Secretary of a chamber or house

Chambers of parliament

Many parliaments or other legislatures consist of two chambers : an elected lower house, and an upper house or Senate which may be appointed or elected by a different mechanism from the lower house. This style of two houses is called bicameral...

 in a legislature

Legislature

A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...

 is the senior administrative officer responsible for ensuring that its business runs smoothly. This may encompass keeping custody of documents received and produced, making records of proceedings, allocating office space, enrolling of members, administering an oath of office

Oath of office

An oath of office is an oath or affirmation a person takes before undertaking the duties of an office, usually a position in government or within a religious body, although such oaths are sometimes required of officers of other organizations...

. The Clerk in some cases has a ceremonial role. A Clerk may also advise the speaker

Speaker (politics)

The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...

 or members on parliamentary procedure

Parliamentary procedure

Parliamentary procedure is the body of rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings and other operations of clubs, organizations, legislative bodies, and other deliberative assemblies...

, acting in American parlance as a "parliamentarian

Parliamentarian (consultant)

A parliamentarian is an expert on parliamentary procedure who advises organizations and deliberative assemblies. This sense of the term "parliamentarian" is distinct from the usage of the same term to mean a member of Parliament....

".

In the Westminster system

Westminster System

The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of government modelled after the politics of the United Kingdom. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

, the Clerk is usually an apolitical civil servant, and typically attains the position through promotion and retains it till retirement.

In the United States, while clerks are usually nonpartisan

Nonpartisan

In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....

, they are often elected by the assembly members at the beginning of each term. At the federal level, and typically at state level, the lower House has a "(Chief) Clerk" while the Senate has a "Secretary".

Legislature	Clerk of sole or lower house	Clerk of upper house	Notes
Parliament of Australia Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...	Clerk Clerk of the Australian House of Representatives The Clerk of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Australia is responsible for managing the Department of the House.The Department of the House of Representatives provides services to support the efficient conduct of the House of Representatives, its committees and certain joint...	Clerk Clerk of the Australian Senate The Clerk of the Australian Senate is the head of the Department of the Senate, which is the parliamentary department supporting the work of the Australian Senate...
Parliament of Canada Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...	Clerk	Clerk
Legislative Council of Hong Kong Legislative Council of Hong Kong The Legislative Council is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong.-History:The Legislative Council of Hong Kong was set up in 1843 as a colonial legislature under British rule...	Clerk	N/A	Unicameral
Parliament of the United Kingdom Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...	Clerk Clerk of the House of Commons The Clerk of the House of Commons is the chief executive of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and before 1707 of the House of Commons of England...	Clerk of the Parliaments Clerk of the Parliaments The Clerk of the Parliaments is the chief clerk of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The position has existed since at least 1315, and duties include preparing the minutes of Lords proceedings, advising on proper parliamentary procedure and pronouncing the Royal Assent...
—National Assembly for Wales National Assembly for Wales The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...	Chief Executive and Clerk Chief Executive and Clerk to the National Assembly for Wales Chief Executive and Clerk to the National Assembly for Wales is a position that relates to the National Assembly for Wales and the Assembly Commission and was created in February 2007 to reflect the growing powers of the National Assembly following the Government of Wales Act 2006...	N/A	Unicameral
—Tynwald Tynwald The Tynwald , or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald is the legislature of the Isle of Man. It is claimed to be the oldest continuous parliamentary body in the world, consisting of the directly elected House of Keys and the indirectly chosen Legislative Council.The Houses sit jointly, for...  (Isle of Man)	Clerk Clerk of Tynwald The Clerk of Tynwald is the chief administrator of the Court of Tynwald in the Isle of Man. He also serves as secretary to the House of Keys and counsel to the Speaker. He assists the president in managing the business of the House of Keys, keeps records of proceedings, an advises members on bills...	N/A	Unicameral
United States Congress United States Congress The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....	Clerk Clerk of the United States House of Representatives The Clerk of the United States House of Representatives is an officer of the United States House of Representatives, whose primary duty is to act as the chief record-keeper for the House....	Secretary Secretary of the United States Senate The Secretary of the Senate is an elected officer of the United States Senate. The Secretary supervises an extensive array of offices and services to expedite the day-to-day operations of that body...	Elected every two years.
—California State Legislature California State Legislature The California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members...	Chief Clerk	Secretary Secretary of the California State Senate The Secretary of the California Senate is a nonpartisan officer of the Senate and is elected at the beginning of each two-year session. The Secretary's primary role is the chief parliamentarian of the Senate . The Secretary also oversees the clerical workforce on the floor of the California State...	Elected every two years.

External links

• American Society of Legislative Clerks & Secretaries (ASLCS) National Conference of State Legislatures
• Society of Clerks-at-the-Table in Commonwealth Parliaments