1A complete list, showing all individual contributors, appears in the final volume.
1A complete list, showing all individual contributors, appears in the final volume.
PRINCIPAL UNSIGNED ARTICLES
Lord Chamberlain.
Lotteries.
Louisiana.
Lourdes.
Loyalists.
Luchu Archipelago.
Lützen.
Lyons.
Macabre.
McKinley, William.
Madeira.
Madison, James.
Madras.
Madrid.
Mafia.
Magnesium.
Magnolia.
Maine, U.S.A.
Maize.
Malplaquet.
Malta.
Mandamus.
Manganese.
Manila.
Manipur.
Manna.
Maori.
Maple.
March.
Marengo.
Marionettes.
Marriage.
Marseilles.
Marshal.
Marston Moor.
Maryland.
Massachusetts.
Match.
Mayo.
Mayor.
Measles.
Mecklenburg.
LORD CHAMBERLAIN,in England, an important officer of the king’s household, to be distinguished from the lord great chamberlain (q.v.). He is the second dignitary of the court, and is always a member of the government of the day (before 1782 the office carried cabinet rank), a peer and a privy councillor. He carries a white staff, and wears a golden or jewelled key, typical of the key of the palace, which is supposed to be in his charge, as the ensigns of his office. He is responsible for the necessary arrangements connected with state ceremonies, such as coronations and royal marriages, christenings and funerals; he examines the claims of those who desire to be presented at court; all invitations are sent out in his name by command of the sovereign, and at drawing-rooms arid levees he stands next to the sovereign and announces the persons who are approaching the throne. It is also part of his duty to conduct the sovereign to and from his carriage.1The bedchamber, privy chamber and presence chamber, the wardrobe, the housekeeper’s room, the guardroom and the chapels royal are in the lord chamberlain’s department. He is regarded as chief officer of the royal household, and he has charge of a large number of appointments, such as those of the royal physicians, tradesmen and private attendants of the sovereign. All theatres in the cities of London and Westminster (except patent theatres), in certain of the London boroughs and in the towns of Windsor and Brighton, are licensed by him and he is also licenser of plays (seeTheatre:Law; andRevels, Master of the). His salary is £2000 a year.
The vice-chamberlain of the household is the lord chamberlain’s assistant and deputy. He also is one of the ministry, a white-staff officer and the bearer of a key; and he is generally a peer or the son of a peer as well as a privy councillor. He receives £700 a year. Next to the vice-chamberlain comes the groom of the stole, an office only in use during the reign of a king. He has the charge of the vestment called the stole worn by the sovereign on state occasions. In the lord chamberlain’s department also are the master, assistant master, marshal of the ceremonies and deputy-marshal of the ceremonies, officers whose special function it is to enforce the observance of theetiquetteof the court. The reception of foreign potentates and ambassadors is under their particular care, and they assist in the ordering of all entertainments and festivities at the palace.2The gentleman usher of the black rod—the black rod which he carries being the ensign of his office—is the principal usher of the court and kingdom. He is one of the original functionaries of the order of the Garter, and is in constant attendance on the House of Lords, from whom, either personally or by his deputy, the yeoman usher of the black rod, it is part of his duty to carry messages and summonses to the House of Commons. There are six lords and six grooms “in waiting” who attend on the sovereign throughout the year and whose terms of attendance are of a fortnight’s or three weeks’ duration at a time. Usually “extra” lords and grooms in waiting are nominated by the sovereign, who, however, are unpaid and have no regular duties. Among the serjeants-at-arms there are two to whom special duties are assigned: the one attending the speaker in the House of Commons, and the other attending the lord chancellor in the House of Lords, carrying their maces and executing their orders.3The comptroller and examiner of accounts, the paymaster of the household, the licenser of plays, the dean and subdean of the chapels royal, the clerk and deputy clerks of the closet, the groom of the robes, the pages of the backstairs, of the chamber and of the presence, the poet laureate, the royal physicians and surgeons, chaplains, painters and sculptors, librarians and musicians, &c., are all under the superintendence of the lord chamberlain of the household.4The queen consort’s household is also in the department of the lord chamberlain of the household. It comprises a lord chamberlain, a vice-chamberlain and treasurer, equerry and the various ladies of the royal household, a groom and a clerk of the robes. The ladies of the household are the mistress of the robes, the ladies of the bedchamber, the bedchamber women and the maids of honour. The mistress of the robes in some measure occupies the position of the groom of the stole.5She is the only lady of the court who comes into office and goes out with the administration. She is always a duchess, and attends the queen consort at all state ceremonies and entertainments, but is never in permanent residence at the palace.6The ladies of the bedchamber share the personal attendance onthe queen consort throughout the year. Of these there are eight, always peeresses, and each is in waiting for a fortnight or three weeks at a time. But the women of the bedchamber, of whom there are also eight, appear only at court ceremonies and entertainments according to a roster annually issued under the authority of the lord chamberlain of the queen consort. They are usually the daughters of peers or the wives of the sons of peers, and formerly, like the mistress of the robes and the ladies of the bedchamber, habitually assisted the queen at her daily toilette. But this has long ceased to be done by any of them. The eight maids of honour have the same terms of waiting as the ladies of the bedchamber. They are commonly if not always the daughters or granddaughters of peers, and when they have no superior title and precedence by birth are called “honourable” and placed next after the daughters of barons.
The vice-chamberlain of the household is the lord chamberlain’s assistant and deputy. He also is one of the ministry, a white-staff officer and the bearer of a key; and he is generally a peer or the son of a peer as well as a privy councillor. He receives £700 a year. Next to the vice-chamberlain comes the groom of the stole, an office only in use during the reign of a king. He has the charge of the vestment called the stole worn by the sovereign on state occasions. In the lord chamberlain’s department also are the master, assistant master, marshal of the ceremonies and deputy-marshal of the ceremonies, officers whose special function it is to enforce the observance of theetiquetteof the court. The reception of foreign potentates and ambassadors is under their particular care, and they assist in the ordering of all entertainments and festivities at the palace.2The gentleman usher of the black rod—the black rod which he carries being the ensign of his office—is the principal usher of the court and kingdom. He is one of the original functionaries of the order of the Garter, and is in constant attendance on the House of Lords, from whom, either personally or by his deputy, the yeoman usher of the black rod, it is part of his duty to carry messages and summonses to the House of Commons. There are six lords and six grooms “in waiting” who attend on the sovereign throughout the year and whose terms of attendance are of a fortnight’s or three weeks’ duration at a time. Usually “extra” lords and grooms in waiting are nominated by the sovereign, who, however, are unpaid and have no regular duties. Among the serjeants-at-arms there are two to whom special duties are assigned: the one attending the speaker in the House of Commons, and the other attending the lord chancellor in the House of Lords, carrying their maces and executing their orders.3The comptroller and examiner of accounts, the paymaster of the household, the licenser of plays, the dean and subdean of the chapels royal, the clerk and deputy clerks of the closet, the groom of the robes, the pages of the backstairs, of the chamber and of the presence, the poet laureate, the royal physicians and surgeons, chaplains, painters and sculptors, librarians and musicians, &c., are all under the superintendence of the lord chamberlain of the household.4
The queen consort’s household is also in the department of the lord chamberlain of the household. It comprises a lord chamberlain, a vice-chamberlain and treasurer, equerry and the various ladies of the royal household, a groom and a clerk of the robes. The ladies of the household are the mistress of the robes, the ladies of the bedchamber, the bedchamber women and the maids of honour. The mistress of the robes in some measure occupies the position of the groom of the stole.5She is the only lady of the court who comes into office and goes out with the administration. She is always a duchess, and attends the queen consort at all state ceremonies and entertainments, but is never in permanent residence at the palace.6The ladies of the bedchamber share the personal attendance onthe queen consort throughout the year. Of these there are eight, always peeresses, and each is in waiting for a fortnight or three weeks at a time. But the women of the bedchamber, of whom there are also eight, appear only at court ceremonies and entertainments according to a roster annually issued under the authority of the lord chamberlain of the queen consort. They are usually the daughters of peers or the wives of the sons of peers, and formerly, like the mistress of the robes and the ladies of the bedchamber, habitually assisted the queen at her daily toilette. But this has long ceased to be done by any of them. The eight maids of honour have the same terms of waiting as the ladies of the bedchamber. They are commonly if not always the daughters or granddaughters of peers, and when they have no superior title and precedence by birth are called “honourable” and placed next after the daughters of barons.
1The lord chamberlain of the household at one time discharged some important political functions, which are described by Sir Harris Nicolas (Proceedings of the Privy Council, vol. vi., Preface, p. xxiii).2The office of master of the ceremonies was created by James I. The master of the ceremonies wears a medal attached to a gold chain round his neck, on one side being an emblem of peace with the motto “Beati pacifici,” and on the other an emblem of war with the motto “Dieu et mon droit” (seeFinetti Philoxensis, by Sir John Finett, master of the ceremonies to James I. and Charles I., 1656; and D’Israeli’sCuriosities of Literature, 10th ed., p. 242 seq.).3See May,Parliamentary Practice, pp. 236, 244.4The offices of master of the great wardrobe and master of the jewel house in the lord chamberlain’s department were abolished in 1782.5In the reign of Queen Anne, Sarah duchess of Marlborough from 1704, and Elizabeth duchess of Somerset from 1710, held the combined offices of mistress of the robes and groom of the stole.6Since the great “bedchamber question” of 1839 the settled practice has been for all the ladies of the court except the mistress of the robes to receive and continue in their appointments independently of the political connexions of their husbands, fathers and brothers (see Gladstone’sGleanings of Past Years, i. 40; and Torrens’sMemoirs of Lord Melbourne, ii. 304).
1The lord chamberlain of the household at one time discharged some important political functions, which are described by Sir Harris Nicolas (Proceedings of the Privy Council, vol. vi., Preface, p. xxiii).
2The office of master of the ceremonies was created by James I. The master of the ceremonies wears a medal attached to a gold chain round his neck, on one side being an emblem of peace with the motto “Beati pacifici,” and on the other an emblem of war with the motto “Dieu et mon droit” (seeFinetti Philoxensis, by Sir John Finett, master of the ceremonies to James I. and Charles I., 1656; and D’Israeli’sCuriosities of Literature, 10th ed., p. 242 seq.).
3See May,Parliamentary Practice, pp. 236, 244.
4The offices of master of the great wardrobe and master of the jewel house in the lord chamberlain’s department were abolished in 1782.
5In the reign of Queen Anne, Sarah duchess of Marlborough from 1704, and Elizabeth duchess of Somerset from 1710, held the combined offices of mistress of the robes and groom of the stole.
6Since the great “bedchamber question” of 1839 the settled practice has been for all the ladies of the court except the mistress of the robes to receive and continue in their appointments independently of the political connexions of their husbands, fathers and brothers (see Gladstone’sGleanings of Past Years, i. 40; and Torrens’sMemoirs of Lord Melbourne, ii. 304).
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE,in England, the presiding judge of the king’s bench division of the High Court of Justice, and in the absence of the lord chancellor, president of the High Court. He traces his descent from the justiciar of the Norman kings. This officer appears first as the lieutenant or deputy of the king, exercising all the functions of the regal office in the absence of the sovereign. “In this capacity William Fitz-Osbern, the steward of Normandy, and Odo of Bayeux, acted during the Conqueror’s visit to the continent in 1067; they were left, according to William of Poitiers, the former to govern the north of England, the latter to hold rule in Kent, vice sua; Florence of Worcester describes them as “custodes Angliae,” and Ordericus Vitalis gives to their office the name of “praefectura.” It would seem most probable that William Fitz-Osbern at least was left in his character of steward, and that the Norman seneschalship was thus the origin of the English justiciarship” (Stubbs’sConstitutional History, i. 346). The same authority observes that William of Warenne and Richard Clare (Bienfaite), who were left in charge of England in 1074, are named by a writer in the next generation “praecipui Angliae justitiarii”; but he considers the name to have not yet been definitely attached to any particular office, and that there is no evidence to show that officers appointed to this trust exercised any functions at all when the king was at home, or in his absence exercised supreme judicial authority to the exclusion of other high officers of the court. The office became permanent in the reign of William Rufus, and in the hands of Ranulf Flambard it became coextensive with the supreme powers of government. But it was not till the reign of Henry II. that the chief officer of the crown acquired the exclusive right to the title ofcapitalisortotius Angliae justitiarius. Stubbs considers that the English form of the office is to be accounted for by the king’s desire to prevent the administration falling into the hands of an hereditary noble. The early justiciars were clerics, in whom the possession of power could not become hereditary. The justiciar continued to be the chief officer of state, next to the king, until the fall of Hubert de Burgh (in the reign of King John), described by Stubbs as the last of the great justiciars. Henceforward, according to Stubbs, the office may be said to have survived only in the judicial functions, which were merely part of the official character of the chief justiciar. He was at the head of the curia regis, which was separating itself into the three historical courts of common law about the time when the justiciarship was falling from the supreme place. The chancellor took the place of the justiciar in council, the treasurer in the exchequer, while the two offshoots from the curia regis, the common pleas and the exchequer, received chiefs of their own. The king’s bench represented the original stock of the curia regis, and its chief justice the great justiciar. The justiciar may, therefore, be said to have become from a political a purely judicial officer. A similar development awaited his successful rival the chancellor. Before the Judicature Act the king’s bench and the common pleas were each presided over by a lord chief justice, and the lord chief justice of the king’s bench was nominal head of all the three courts, and held the title of lord chief justice of England. The titles of lord chief justice of the common pleas and lord chief baron were abolished by the Judicature Act 1873, and all the common law divisions of the High Court united into the king’s bench division, the president of which is the lord chief justice of England.
The lord chief justice is, next to the lord chancellor, the highest judicial dignitary in the kingdom. He is anex-officiojudge of the court of appeal. He holds office during good behaviour, and can only be removed by the crown (by whom he is appointed) after a joint address of both houses of parliament. He is now the only judicial functionary privileged to wear the collar of SS. There has been much discussion as to the origin and history of this collar;1it was a badge or insignia attached to certain offices entitling the holders to wear it only so long as they held those offices. The collar of SS. was worn by the chiefs of the three courts previous to their amalgamation in 1873, and that now worn by the lord chief justice of England was provided by Sir A. Cockburn in 1859 and entailed by him on all holders of the office. The salary is £8000 a year.In the United States the supreme court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices, any six of whom make a quorum. The salary of the chief justice is $13,000 and that of the associates $12,500. The chief justice takes rank next after the president, and he administers the oath on the inauguration of a new president and vice-president. The principal or presiding judge in most of the state judicatures also takes the title of chief justice.
The lord chief justice is, next to the lord chancellor, the highest judicial dignitary in the kingdom. He is anex-officiojudge of the court of appeal. He holds office during good behaviour, and can only be removed by the crown (by whom he is appointed) after a joint address of both houses of parliament. He is now the only judicial functionary privileged to wear the collar of SS. There has been much discussion as to the origin and history of this collar;1it was a badge or insignia attached to certain offices entitling the holders to wear it only so long as they held those offices. The collar of SS. was worn by the chiefs of the three courts previous to their amalgamation in 1873, and that now worn by the lord chief justice of England was provided by Sir A. Cockburn in 1859 and entailed by him on all holders of the office. The salary is £8000 a year.
In the United States the supreme court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices, any six of whom make a quorum. The salary of the chief justice is $13,000 and that of the associates $12,500. The chief justice takes rank next after the president, and he administers the oath on the inauguration of a new president and vice-president. The principal or presiding judge in most of the state judicatures also takes the title of chief justice.
1Notes and Queries, series 1, vol. ii.; series 4, vols. ii. ix. x.; series 6, vols. ii. iii.; Planché,Dictionary of Costume, p. 126; Foss,Lives of the Judges, vol. vii.; Dugdale,Orig. Jud.fol. 102.
1Notes and Queries, series 1, vol. ii.; series 4, vols. ii. ix. x.; series 6, vols. ii. iii.; Planché,Dictionary of Costume, p. 126; Foss,Lives of the Judges, vol. vii.; Dugdale,Orig. Jud.fol. 102.
LORD GREAT CHAMBERLAIN,in England, a functionary who must be carefully distinguished from the lord chamberlain; he is one of the great officers of state, whose office dates from Norman times; and the only one who still holds it under a creation of that period. As his name implies, he was specially connected by his duties with the king’s chamber (camera curie); but this phrase was also used to denote the king’s privy purse, and the chamberlain may be considered as originally the financial officer of the household. But as he was always a great baron, deputies performed his financial work, and his functions became, as they are now, mainly ceremonial, though the emblem of his office is still a key. The office had been held by Robert Malet, son of a leading companion of the Conqueror, but he was forfeited by Henry I., who, in 1133, gave the great chamberlainship to Aubrey de Vere and his heirs. Aubrey’s son was created earl of Oxford, and the earls held the office, with some intermission, till 1526, when the then earl left female heirs. His heir-male succeeded to the earldom, but the crown, as is now established, denied his right to the office, which was thenceforth held under grants for life till Queen Mary and Elizabeth admitted in error the right of the earls on the strength of their own allegation. So matters continued till 1626, when an earl died and again left an heir-male and an heir-female. After an historic contest the office was adjudged to the former, Lord Willoughby d’Eresby. No further question arose till 1779, when his heirs were two sisters. In 1781 the House of Lords decided that it belonged to them jointly, and that they could appoint a deputy, which they did. Under a family arrangement the heirs of the two sisters respectively appointed deputies in alternate reigns till the death of Queen Victoria, when Lord Ancaster, the heir of the elder, who was then in possession, claimed that he, as such, had sole right to the office. Lord Cholmondeley and Lord Carrington as coheirs of the younger sister, opposed his claim, and the crown also claimed for itself on the ground of the action taken by the king in 1526. After a long and historic contest, the House of Lords (1902) declined to re-open the question, and merely re-affirmed the decision of 1781, and the office, therefore, is now vested jointly in the three peers named and their heirs.
The lord great chamberlain has charge of the palace of Westminster, especially of the House of Lords, in which he has an office; and when the sovereign opens parliament in person he is responsible for the arrangements. At the opening or closing of the session of parliament by the sovereign in person he disposes of the sword of state to be carried by any peer he may select, and walks himself in the procession on the right of the sword of state, a little before it and next to the sovereign. He issues the tickets of admission on the same occasions. He assists at the introduction of all peers into the House of Lords on their creation, and at the homage of all bishops after their consecration. At coronations he emerges into special importance; he still asserts before the court of claims his archaic right to bring the king his “shirt, stockings and drawers” and to dress him on coronation day and to receive his ancient fees, which include the king’s bed and “night robe.” He also claims in error to serve the kingwith water before and after the banquet, which was the function of the “ewry,” a distinct office held by the earls of Oxford. At the actual coronation ceremony he takes an active part in investing the king with the royal insignia.
See J. H. Round, “The Lord Great Chamberlain” (Monthly Review, June 1902) and “Notes on the Lord Great Chamberlain Case” (Ancestor, No. IV.).
See J. H. Round, “The Lord Great Chamberlain” (Monthly Review, June 1902) and “Notes on the Lord Great Chamberlain Case” (Ancestor, No. IV.).
(J. H. R.)
LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR,one of the great officers of state of the United Kingdom, and in England the highest judicial functionary. The history of the office and of the growth of the importance of the lord chancellor will be found underChancellor. The lord chancellor is in official rank the highest civil subject in the land outside the royal family, and takes precedence immediately after the archbishop of Canterbury. His functions have sometimes been exercised by a lord keeper of the great seal (seeLord Keeper), the only real difference between the two offices being in the appointment of the keeper by mere delivery of the seal, while a lord chancellor receives letters patent along with it. He is by office a privy councillor, and it has long been the practice to make him a peer and also a cabinet minister. He is by prescription Speaker or prolocutor of the House of Lords, and as such he sits upon the woolsack, which is not strictly within the House. Unlike the Speaker of the House of Commons, the lord chancellor takes part in debates, speaking from his place in the House. He votes from the woolsack instead of going into the division lobby. The only function which he discharges as Speaker practically is putting the question; if two debaters rise together, he has no power to call upon one, nor can he rule upon points of order. Those taking part in debates address, not the lord chancellor, but the whole House, as “My Lords.” The lord chancellor always belongs to a political party and is affected by its fluctuations. This has often been denounced as destructive of the independence and calm deliberativeness essential to the purity and efficiency of the bench. In defence, however, of the ministerial connexion of the chancellor, it has been said that, while the other judges should be permanent, the head of the law should stand or fall with the ministry, as the best means of securing his effective responsibility to parliament for the proper use of his extensive powers. The transference of the judicial business of the chancery court to the High Court of Justice removed many of the objections to the fluctuating character of the office. As a great officer of state, the lord chancellor acts for both England and Scotland, and in some respects for the United Kingdom, including Ireland (where, however, an Irish lord chancellor is at the head of the legal system). By Article XXIV. of the Act of Union (1705) one great seal was appointed to be kept for all public acts, and in this department the lord chancellor’s authority extends to the whole of Britain, and thus the commissions of the peace for Scotland as well as England issue from him.1As an administrative officer, as a judge and as head of the law, he acts merely for England. His English ministerial functions are thus briefly described by Blackstone: “He became keeper of the king’s conscience, visitor, in right of the king, of all hospitals and colleges of the king’s foundation, and patron of all the king’s livings under the value of twenty marks per annum in the king’s books. He is the general guardian of all infants, idiots and lunatics, and has the general superintendence of all charitable uses in the kingdom.” But these duties and jurisdiction by modern statutes have been distributed for the most part among other offices or committed to the judges of the High Court (seeCharity and Charities;Infant;Insanity). Under the Judicature Act 1873 the lord chancellor is a member of the court of appeal, and, when he sits, its president, and he is also a judge of the High Court of Justice. He is named as president of the chancery division of the latter court. His judicial patronage is very extensive, and he is by usage the adviser of the crown in the appointment of judges2of the High Court. He presides over the hearing of appeals in the House of Lords. His proper title is “Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Ireland.” His salary is £10,000 per annum, and he is entitled to a pension of £5000 per annum.
Authorities.—Observations concerning the Office of Lord Chancellor(1651), attributed to Lord Chancellor Ellesmere; Blackstone’sCommentaries; Campbell’sLives of the Chancellors; and D. M. Kerly,Historical Sketch of the Equitable Jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery(1890).
Authorities.—Observations concerning the Office of Lord Chancellor(1651), attributed to Lord Chancellor Ellesmere; Blackstone’sCommentaries; Campbell’sLives of the Chancellors; and D. M. Kerly,Historical Sketch of the Equitable Jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery(1890).
1The great seal, which exists in duplicate for Irish use, is the great seal of the United Kingdom.2Except the lord chief justice, who is appointed on the nomination of the prime minister.
1The great seal, which exists in duplicate for Irish use, is the great seal of the United Kingdom.
2Except the lord chief justice, who is appointed on the nomination of the prime minister.
LORD HIGH CONSTABLE,in England, the seventh of the great officers of state. His office is now called out of abeyance for coronations alone. The constable was originally the commander of the royal armies and the master of the horse. He was also, in conjunction with the earl marshal, president of the court of chivalry or court of honour. In feudal times martial law was administered in the court of the lord high constable. The constableship was granted as a grand serjeanty with the earldom of Hereford by the empress Maud to Milo of Gloucester, and was carried by his heiress to the Bohuns, earls of Hereford and Essex. Through a coheiress of the Bohuns it descended to the Staffords, dukes of Buckingham; and on the attainder of Edward Stafford, third duke of Buckingham, in the reign of Henry VIII. it became merged in the crown. The Lacys and Verduns were hereditary constables of Ireland from the 12th to the 14th century, and the Hays, earls of Erroll, have been hereditary constables of Scotland from early in the 14th century.
LORD HIGH STEWARD.The Lord High Steward of England, who must not be confused with the Lord Steward, ranks as the first of the great officers of state. Appointments to this office are now made only for special occasions, such as the coronation of a sovereign or the trial of a peer by his peers. The history of the office is noteworthy. The household of the Norman and Angevin kings of England included certain persons of secondary rank, styled dapifers, seneschals or stewards (the prototypes of the lord steward), who were entrusted with domestic and state duties; the former duties were those of purveyors and sewers to the king, the latter were undefined. At coronations, however, and great festivals it became the custom in England and elsewhere to appoint magnates of the first rank to discharge for the occasion the domestic functions of the ordinary officials. In accordance with this custom Henry II. appointed both Robert II., earl of Leicester, and Hugh Bigod, earl of Norfolk, to be his honorary hereditary stewards; and at the Christmas festival of 1186 the successors in title of these two earls, with William, earl of Arundel, who held the similar honorary office of hereditary butler, are described as serving the king at the royal banqueting table. Subsequently the earls of Leicester bought out the rights of the earls of Norfolk for ten knights’ fees.
The last of these earls of Leicester to inherit the hereditary stewardship was Simon V. de Montfort; how he served as steward at the coronation of Eleanor, queen of Henry III., is described in the Exchequer Red Book. The office of steward in France, then recently suppressed, had for some time been the highest office of state in that kingdom, and Simon de Montfort appears to have considered that his hereditary stewardship entitled him to high official position in England; and after his victory at Lewes he repeatedly figures as steward of England in official documents under the great seal. After Simon’s death at Evesham his forfeited estates were conferred on his son Edmund of Lancaster, who also obtained a grant of the stewardship, but only for life. Edmund was succeeded by Thomas, earl of Lancaster, who received a fresh grant of the stewardship to himself and the heirs of his body from Edward II.; and this earl it was who, during the weak administration of the last-mentioned king, first put forward in a celebrated tract the claim of the steward to be the second personage in the realm and supreme judge in parliament, a claim which finds some slight recognition in the preamble to the statute passed against the Despencers in the first year of Edward III.
Earl Thomas was executed for treason, and though his attainder was reversed he left no issue, and was succeeded in the earldom by his brother Henry. The subsequent earls and dukes of Lancaster were all recognized as stewards of England,the office apparently being treated as annexed to the earldom, or honor, of Leicester. John of Gaunt, indeed, at a time when it was possible that he would never obtain the Leicester moiety of the Lancastrian estates, seems to have made an ingenious but quite unfounded claim to the office as annexed to the honor of Hinckley. Strictly speaking, none of the Lancasters after Thomas had any clear title either by grant or otherwise; such title as they had merged in the crown when Henry IV. usurped the throne. Meanwhile the stewardship had increased in importance. On the accession of Edward III., Henry, earl of Lancaster, as president of the council, had superintended the coronation of the infant king; John of Gaunt did the same for the infant Richard II.; and, as part of the duties involved, sat in the White Hall of Westminster to hear and determine the claims to perform coronation services. The claims were made by petition, and included amongst others: the claim of Thomas of Woodstock to act as constable, the rival claims of John Dymock and Baldwin de Frevile to act as champion, and the claim of the barons of the Cinque Ports to carry a canopy over the king. Minutes of these proceedings, in which the duke is stated to have sat “as steward of England,” were enrolled by his order. This is the origin of what is now called the Court of Claims. The precedent of Richard II. has been followed on all subsequent occasions, except that in modern times it has been the practice to appoint commissioners instead of a steward to superintend this court. In 1397 John of Gaunt created a notable precedent in support of the steward’s claim to be supreme judge in parliament by presiding at the trial of the earl of Arundel and others.
When Henry IV. came to the throne he appointed his young son Thomas, afterwards duke of Clarence, to the office of steward. Clarence held the office until his death. He himself never acted as judge in parliament; but in 1415 he was appointed to preside at the judgment of peers delivered in Southampton against Richard, earl of Cambridge, and Lord Scrope of Masham, who had been previously tried by commissioners of oyer and terminer. No permanent steward was ever again created; but a steward was always appointed for coronations to perform the various ceremonial services associated with the office, and, until the Court of Claims was entrusted to commissioners, to preside over that court. Also, in the 15th century, it gradually became the custom to appoint a stewardpro hac viceto preside at the trial, or at the proceedings upon the attainder of a peer in parliament; and later, to preside over a court, called the court of the lord high steward, for the trial of peers when parliament was not sitting. To assist in establishing the latter court a precedent of 1400 appears to have been deliberately forged. This precedent is reported in the printedYear-Bookof 1400, first published in 1553; it describes the trial of “the earl of H” for participation in the rebellion of that year, and gives details of procedure. John Holand, earl of Huntingdon, is undoubtedly the earl indicated, but the evidence is conclusive that he was murdered in Essex without any trial. The court of the lord high steward seems to have been first definitely instituted in 1499 for the trial of Edward Plantagenet, earl of Warwick; only two years earlier Lord Audley had been condemned by the court of chivalry, a very different and unpopular tribunal. The Warwick trial was most carefully schemed: the procedure, fundamentally dissimilar to that adopted in 1415, follows exactly the forged precedent; but the constitution of the court was plainly derived from the Southampton case. The record of the trial was consigned to a new repository (commonly but wrongly called the Baga de Secretis), which thenceforth became the regular place of custody for important state trials. Latterly, and possibly from its inception, this repository consisted of a closet with three locks, of which the keys were entrusted, one to the chief justice of England, another to the attorney-general and the third to the master of the crown office, or coroner. Notwithstanding the irregular origin of the steward’s court, for which Henry VII. must be held responsible, the validity of its jurisdiction cannot be questioned. The Warwick proceedings were confirmed by act of parliament, and ever since this court has been fully recognized as part of the English constitution.
For about a century and a half prior to the reign of James I. the criminal jurisdiction of parliament remained in abeyance, and bills of attainder were the vogue. The practice of appointing a steward on these occasions to execute judgment upon a peer was kept up till 1477, when George, duke of Clarence, was attainted, and then dropped. Under the Stuarts the criminal jurisdiction of parliament was again resorted to, and when the proceedings against a peer were founded on indictment the appointment of a steward followed as a matter of settled practice. The proper procedure in cases of impeachment had, on the contrary, never been defined. On the impeachment of Strafford the lords themselves appointed Arundel to be high steward. In Danby’s case a commission under the great seal issued in the common form adopted for the court of the steward; this was recalled, and the rule agreed to by a joint committee of both houses that a steward for trials of peers upon impeachments was unnecessary. But, as such an appointment was obviously convenient, the lords petitioned for a steward; and a fresh commission was accordingly issued in an amended form, which recited the petition, and omitted words implying that the appointment was necessary. This precedent has been treated as settling the practice of parliament with regard to impeachments.
Of the proceedings against peers founded upon indictment very few trials antecedent to the revolution took place in parliament. The preference given to the steward’s court was largely due to the practice, founded upon the Southampton case, of summoning only a few peers selected by the steward, a practice which made it easy for the king to secure a conviction. This arrangement has been partially abrogated by the Treason Act of William III., which in cases of treason and misprision of treason requires that all peers of parliament shall be summoned twenty days at least before every such trial. The steward’s court also differed in certain other particulars from the high court of parliament. For example, it was ruled by Lord Chancellor Jeffreys, as steward at the trial of Lord Delamere, that, in trials of peers which take place during the recess of parliament in the steward’s court, the steward is the judge of the court, the court is held before him, his warrant convenes the prisoner to the bar, his summons convenes the peers for the trial, and he is to determine by his sole authority all questions of law that arise in the course of the trial, but that he is to give no vote upon the issue of guilty or not guilty; during a session of parliament, on the contrary, all the peers are both triers and judges, and the steward is only as chairman of the court and gives his vote together with the other lords. Lord Delamere was tried in 1685 in the steward’s court; since then all trials of peers have taken place before the lords in parliament. The most recent trial was that of Earl Russell in 1901, when Lord Chancellor Halsbury was made lord high steward. The steward is addressed as “his grace,” he has a rod of office, and the commission appointing him is dissolved according to custom by breaking this rod.
A court of claims sat and a steward was appointed for the coronation of Edward VII.; and during the procession in Westminster Abbey the duke of Marlborough, as steward, carried “St Edward’s crown” in front of the bearer of the Bible (the bishop of London), who immediately preceded the king; this function of the steward is of modern origin. The steward’s ancient and particular services at coronations are practically obsolete; the full ceremonies, procession from Westminster Hall and banquet in which he figured prominently, were abandoned on the accession of William IV.
For the early history of the steward see L. W. Vernon-Harcourt,His Grace the Steward and Trial of Peers(1907); for the later history of the office see Sir E. Coke,Institutes(1797); Cobbett and Howell,State Trials(1809, seq.); S. M. Phillipps,State Trials(1826); John Hatsell,Precedents, vol. 4 (1818); and Sir M. Foster,Crown Law(1809). See also the various works onCoronationsfor the steward’s services on these occasions.
For the early history of the steward see L. W. Vernon-Harcourt,His Grace the Steward and Trial of Peers(1907); for the later history of the office see Sir E. Coke,Institutes(1797); Cobbett and Howell,State Trials(1809, seq.); S. M. Phillipps,State Trials(1826); John Hatsell,Precedents, vol. 4 (1818); and Sir M. Foster,Crown Law(1809). See also the various works onCoronationsfor the steward’s services on these occasions.
(L. W. V.-H.)
LORD HIGH TREASURER,in England, once the third great officer of state. The office was of Norman origin and dated from 1216. The duty of the treasurer originally was to act as keeper of the royal treasure at Winchester, while as officer of the exchequer he sat at Westminster to receive the accountsof the sheriffs, and appoint officers to collect the revenue. The treasurer was subordinate to both the justiciar and the chancellor, but the removal of the chancery from the exchequer in the reign of Richard I., and the abolition of the office of justiciars in the reign of Henry III., increased his importance. Indeed, from the middle of the reign of Henry III. he became one of the chief officers of the crown. He took an important part in the equitable jurisdiction of the exchequer, and was now styled not merely king’s treasurer or treasurer of the exchequer, but lord high treasurer and treasurer of the exchequer. The first office was conferred by delivery of a white staff, the second by patent. Near the end of the 16th century he had developed into an official so occupied with the general policy of the country as to be prevented from supervising personally the details of the department, and Lord Burleigh employed a secretary for this purpose. On the death of Lord Salisbury in 1612 the office was put in commission; it was filled from time to time until 1714, when the duke of Shrewsbury resigned it; since that time it has always been in commission (seeTreasury). The Scottish treasury was merged with the English by the Act of Union, but the office of lord high treasurer for Ireland was continued until 1816.
LORD HOWE,an island of the southern Pacific Ocean, lying about 31° 36′ S., 159° 5′ E., 520 m. E.N.E. of Sydney. Pop. 120. It was discovered in 1778 by Lieutenant Ball (whose name is commemorated in the adjacent islet of Ball’s Pyramid), and is a dependency of New South Wales. It measures about 5½ m. by 1 m., and is well wooded and hilly (reaching a height of 2840 ft. at the southern end), being of volcanic formation, while there are coral reefs on the western shore. It has a pleasant climate. The name Lord Howe is given also to an islet of the Santa Cruz group, and to two islands, also known under other names—Mopiha, of the Society group, and Ongtong Java of the Solomon Islands.
LORD JUSTICE CLERK,in Scotland, a judge next in rank to the lord justice-general. He presides in the second division of the court of session, and in the absence of the lord justice-general, presides in the court of justiciary. The justice clerk was originally not a judge at all, but simply clerk and legal assessor of the justice court. In course of time he was raised from the clerk’s table to the bench, and by custom presided over the court in the absence of the justice-general. Up to 1672 his position was somewhat anomalous, as it was doubtful whether he was a clerk or a judge, but an act of that year, which suppressed the office of justice-depute, confirmed his position as a judge, forming him, with the justice-general and five of the lords of session into the court of justiciary. The lord justice clerk is also one of the officers of state for Scotland, and one of the commissioners for keeping the Scottish Regalia. His salary is £4800 a year.
LORD JUSTICE-GENERAL,the highest judge in Scotland, head of the court of justiciary, called also the lord president, and as such head of the court of session and representative of the sovereign. The office of justice-general was for a considerable time a sinecure post held by one of the Scottish nobility, but by the Court of Session Act 1830, it was enacted that, at the termination of the existing interest, the office should be united with that of lord president of the court of session, who then became presiding judge of the court of justiciary. The salary is £5000 a year.
LORD KEEPER OF THE GREAT SEAL,in England, formerly a great officer of state. The Great Seal of England, which is affixed on all solemn occasions to documents expressing the pleasure of the sovereign, was first adopted by Edward the Confessor (seeSeals), and entrusted to a chancellor for keeping. The office of chancellor from the time of Becket onwards varied much in importance; the holder being an ecclesiastic, he was not only engaged in the business of his diocese, but sometimes was away from England. Consequently, it became not unusual to place the personal custody of the great seal in the hands of a vice-chancellor or keeper; this, too, was the practice followed during a temporary vacancy in the chancellorship. This office gradually developed into a permanent appointment, and the lord keeper acquired the right of discharging all the duties connected with the great seal. He was usually, though not necessarily, a peer, and held office during the king’s pleasure, he was appointed merely by delivery of the seal, and not, like the chancellor, by patent. His status was definitely fixed (in the case of lord keeper Sir Nicholas Bacon) by an act of Elizabeth, which declared him entitled to “like place, pre-eminence, jurisdiction, execution of laws, and all other customs, commodities, and advantages” as the lord chancellor. In subsequent reigns the lord keeper was generally raised to the chancellorship, and retained the custody of the seal. The last lord keeper was Sir Robert Henley (afterwards Lord Northington), who was made chancellor on the accession of George III.
LORD MAYOR’S DAY,in England, the 9th of November, the date of the inauguration of the lord mayor of London (see Vol. XVI., p. 966), marked by a pageant known as the Lord Mayor’s Show. The first of these pageants was held in 1215. The idea originated in the stipulation made in a charter then granted by John that the citizen chosen to be mayor should be presented to the king or his justice for approval. The crowd of citizens who accompanied the mayor on horseback to Westminster developed into a yearly pageant, which each season became more elaborate. Until the 15th century the mayor either rode or walked to Westminster, but in 1453 Sir John Norman appears to have set a fashion of going by water. From 1639 to 1655 the show disappeared owing to Puritan opposition. With the Restoration the city pageant was revived, but interregnums occurred during the years of the plague and fire, and in 1683 when a quarrel broke out between Charles and the city, ending in the temporary abrogation of the charter. In 1711 an untoward accident befell the show, the mayor Sir Gilbert Heathcote (the original of Addison’s Sir Andrew Freeport) being thrown by his horse. The next year a coach was, in consequence, provided for the chief magistrate. In 1757 this was superseded by a gilded and elaborately decorated equipage costing £10,065 which was used till 1896, when a replica of it was built to replace it.
LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL,in England, one of the great officers of state, and a member of the ministry. It was only in 1679 that the office of lord president became permanent. Previously either the lord chancellor, the lord keeper of the seal, or some particular court official took formal direction of the Privy Council. In the reign of Charles I. a special lord president of the council was appointed, but in the following reign the office was left unfilled. The office was of considerable importance when the powers of the Privy Council, exercised through various committees, were of greater extent than at the present time. For example, a committee of the lords of the council was formerly responsible for the work now dealt with by the secretary of state for foreign affairs; so also with that now discharged by the Board of Trade. The lord president up to 1855—when a new post of vice-president of the council was created—was responsible for the education department. He was also responsible for the duties of the council in regard to public health, now transferred to the Local Government Board, and for duties in regard to agriculture, now transferred to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. The duties of the office now consist of presiding on the not very frequent occasions when the Privy Council meets, and of the drawing up of minutes of council upon subjects which do not belong to any other department of state. The office is very frequently held in conjunction with other ministerial offices, for example, in Gladstone’s fourth ministry the secretary of state for India was also lord president of the council, and in the conservative ministry of 1903 the holder of the office was also president of the Board of Education. The lord president is appointed by a declaration made in council by the sovereign. He is invariably a member of the House of Lords, and he is also included in the cabinet.