A clerk is therefore "a mere arm of the court to perform a portion of the acts necessary to be done by the court, but which are not of a judicial nature." Farber v. Conti, 84 Conn. 458, 462, 80 A. 581 (1911). Pursuant to those principles, a statutory provision regarding the ministerial duty of clerks to store inactive files in a place of safekeeping cannot be construed as granting the court inherent authority and discretion to create a new file for the purpose of addressing the Times' application.
Hillhouse v. Dunning, 7 Conn. 139, 141. Clerks act under the court's orders or rules because their clerical acts are subject to the court's orders or rules. See Farber v. Conti, 84 Conn. 458, 461. In the instant case, this court had no jurisdiction over the defendant's person prior to June 22, 1961, because the defendant did not sign the plea of guilty, and neither appeared physically before the court nor signed the written appearance.