Roll

Roll, ^* A schedule of parchment which may be turned up with the hand in the form of a pipe or tube. Jacob, L. D. h. t.

2. In carly times, before paper came in common use, parchment was the substance employed for making records, and, as the art of bookbinding was but little used, economy suggested as the most convenient mode of adding sheet to sheet, as were found requisite, and they were tacked together in such manner that the whole length might be wound up together in the form of spiral rolls.

3. Figuratively it signifies the records of a court or office. In Pennsylvania the master of the rolls was an officer in whose office were recorded the acts of the legislature. 1 Smith's Laws, 46.

^* From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1856 Edition. Please see Bouvier's Legal Abbreviations & Abbreviated References for help with obscure nomenclature & references.