HANAPER, used particularly in the English Chancery of a wicker basket in which were kept writs and other documents, and hence it became the name of a department of the chancery, now abolished, under an officer known as the clerk of the hanaper, into which were paid fees for the sealing of charters, patents, &c., and from which issued certain writs under the Great Seal. From "hanaper" is derived the modern "hamper." Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911