Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 221, § 8: Temporary clerks

Section 8. If by reason of illness or other cause the clerk of the courts in any county, or of the supreme judicial court in Suffolk county, is unable to perform his duties, and there is no assistant clerk or he also is unable to perform the duties of his office, the justices of the supreme judicial court may appoint a temporary clerk, who shall perform the duties of the office until the clerk or assistant clerk resumes his duties. The justices of the superior court may appoint a temporary clerk if a clerk and assistant clerk of that court in Suffolk county cannot perform the duties of the office. When after any such temporary appointment the clerk or assistant clerk resumes his duties, he shall make a record of that fact, with the date, under his signature, in the latest book of records in each of his courts.