The County Clerk in the State of New Jersey is one of three county-wide elected constitutional officers, along with the Sheriff and Surrogate. The term of a County Clerk is five years. The County Clerk is responsible for the administration of a broad range of services including the filing and recording of all documents affecting real estate ownership/transfer, the processing of United States Passport applications, assisting individuals who wish to become a Notary Public, the filing of Business Trade Names and the supervision of Primary, General, School Board, and Special Elections.

Historically, the evolution of the position of County Clerk is tied to the recording of real estate documents. In the Middle Ages, the only persons who could read or write were the clergy who were held in high regard by the kings and their courts. Since the transfer of property involved the creation of a record for transfer, it was the clergy or their appointment of other learned people who could read or write, called the “clericus” or “clerks,” who undertook a written record for land transfer.

So important were the “clericus” that they enjoyed the protection of the church and doctrine of “benefit of Clergy” which prohibited the courts from gaining jurisdiction over these persons and gave them the total privilege of exemption from punishment for crimes.

For 500 years, the transfer of property occurred by documents written and held by the “clerks.” Since these “clerks” could read and write, they became “clerks of the courts” of the various lords in England, maintaining records of the court proceedings. With the colonization of the United States, that procedure was adopted within the legal jurisdictions of the various lords and the attendant “clerks.”

Due to the distance between England and America, inhabitants formed various agreements for the recording and transfer of property. The first occurred in 1676, entitled “The Concessions and Agreements of the Proprietors, Freeholders, and Inhabitants of the Providence of West New Jersey.” Both the East and West Jersey proprietors ceded and surrendered their respective rights back to the British crown in 1702, raising concern that no method existed for the transfer of property.

After the Revolutionary War, the State of New Jersey returned to the basic concept that recording was necessary to protect purchasers of property. Under the “Conveyancing Act of 1799,” which is the precursor of the existing NJ Statutes for recording, “…every conveyance of property must be ‘recorded’ in a ‘register’ or it shall be ‘void and of no effect…’ ” These laws further directed and required that recordations and registrations be performed by the various “clerks of the inferior courts of common pleas and quarter sessions” who were appointed by the council and assembly, and commissioned by the governor.

In 1844, the new Constitution drawn for the State removed the clerks from the control of the executive and judicial branches and had their powers conferred upon them by the voters. They were made constitutional officers and served for fixed terms. The New Jersey Constitution of 1844 provided that:

“Clerks and surrogates of counties shall be elected by the people of their respective counties at the annual elections for members of the general assembly. They shall hold their offices for five years.”

In 1947, a new State Constitution provided only minor changes, including the directive that clerks are elected at general elections. The long historical role of the clerks, as constitutional officers, performing what is now a statutory function in recording documents of title, establishes an area of expertise and unique function.

Warren County, formed in 1825 upon separation from Sussex County, elected its first County Clerk, Matthias O. Halsted, who served until 1831.

There have been a total of 26 County Clerks in Warren County.