G61 Act " for enabling Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal to execute the office of Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper " (1 Will, and Mary c. 21) gave to the commissioners not being peers of the realm place next to the speaker of the House of Commons and to the speaker place next to the peers of the realm. In 1707 the Act of Union with Scotland (6 Anne c. 11) provided that all peers of Scotland should be peers of Great Britain l and should have rank immedi ately after the peers of the like degrees in England at the time of the Union and before all peers of Great Britain of the like degrees created after the Union. In 1800 the Act of Union with Ireland (39 and 40 Geo. III. c. 67) pro vided that the lords spiritual of Ireland should have rank immediately after the lords spiritual of the same degree in Great Britain, and that the lords temporal of Ireland should have rank immediately after the lords temporal of the same degree in Great Britain at the time of the Union, and further that "peerages of Ireland created after the Union should have precedence with peerages of the United Kingdom created after the Union according to the dates of their creation." At different times too during the current century several statutes have been passed for the reform and extension of the judicial organization which have very materially affected the precedence of the judges, more especially the Judicature Act of 1873 (36 and 37 Viet, c. 66), under which the lords justices of appeal and the justices of the High Court now receive their appointments. But the statute of Henry VIII. " for the placing of the Lords " still remains the only legislative measure in which it has been attempted to deal directly and systematically with any large and important section of the scale of general precedence ; and the law, so far as it relates to the ranking of the sovereign s immediate kindred whether lineal or collateral, the principal ministers of the crown and court, and both the spiritual and temporal members of the House of Lords, is to all practical intents and purposes what it was made by that statute nearly 350 years ago. Where no Act of parliament applies, precedence is determined either by the will and pleasure of the sovereign or by what is accepted as "ancient usage and established custom." Of the sovereign s will and pleasure the appropriate method of announcement is by warrant vinder the sign -manual, or letters patent under the great seal. But, although the crown has at all periods very frequently conceded special privileges of rank and place to particular persons, its interference with the scale of general precedence has been rare and exceptional. In 1540 it was provided by warrant from Henry VIII. that certain officers of the house hold therein named should precede the secretaries of state when and if they were under the degree of barons. 2 In 1612 James I. directed by letters patent, not without long and elaborate argument in the Star Chamber, that baronets, then newly created, should be ranked after the younger sons of viscounts and barons, and that a number of political and judicial functionaries should be ranked between knights of the Garter and such knights bannerets as should be made by the sovereign in person "under his Standard displayed in an Army Royal in open war." 3 Four years later he further directed, also by letters patent, that the sons of baronets and their wives and the daughters of baronets should be placed before the sons of knights and their wives 1 For the parliamentary rights of Scottish peers, see PEERAGE, vol. xviii. p. 466. 2 Quoted by Sir Charles Young from State Papers : published by Authority (4to, 1830) p. 623, in Privy Councillors and their Pre cedence (1850) p. 15. 3 Patent Rolls, 10th Jac., part x. mem. 8. It is commonly stated that the bannerets here referred to could be made by the prince of Wales as well as by the king. But the privilege was conferred by James I. on Henry, the then prince of Wales, only (Selden. Titles of Honor, part ii. p. 750). and the daughters of knights " of what degree or order so ever." 4 And again in 1620 the same king commanded by warrant " after solemn argument before his Majesty " that the younger sons of earls should precede knights of the privy council and knights of the Garter not being " barons or of a higher degree." 5 If we add to these ordinances the provisions relating to precedence contained in the statutes of several of the orders of knighthood which since then have been instituted or reconstructed, we shall nearly, if not quite, exhaust the catalogue of the interpositions of the sovereign with regard to the rank and place of classes as dis tinguished from individuals. Of " ancient usage and estab lished custom " the records of the College of Arms furnish the fullest and most trustworthy evidence. Among them in particular there is a collection of early tables of preced ence which were published by authority at intervals from the end of the 14th to the end of the 15th century, and to which peculiar weight has been attached by many success ive generations of heralds. On them, indeed, as illustra tive of and supplementary to the action of parliament and the crown, all subsequent tables of precedence have been in great measure founded. The oldest is the " Order of All Estates of Nobles and Gentry," prepared apparently for the coronation of Henry IV. in 1399, under the super vision of Ralph Nevill, earl of Westmoreland and earl marshal ; and the next is the " Order of All States of Wor ship and Gentry," prepared, as announced in the heading, for the coronation of Henry VI. in 1429, under the super vision of the lord protector Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, and the earl marshal, John Mowbray, duke of Norfolk. Two more are of the reign of Edward IV., and were sever ally issued by John Tiptoft, earl of Worcester and lord high constable, in 1467, and by Anthony Widvile, Earl Rivers and lord high constable, in 1479. The latest is commonly and shortly known as the "Series Ordinum," and was drawn up by a special commission presided over by Jasper Tudor, duke of Bedford, it is presumed for observance at the marriage of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York in 1486. To these may be added the " Order for the Placing of Lords and Ladies," taken at a grand enter tainment given by command of Henry VIII. at the king s manor-house of Richmond in 1520 by Charles Somerset, earl of Worcester, lord chamberlain of the household, to the French ambassador, Olivier de la Vernade, seigneur de la Batie; the "Precedency of All Estates," arranged in 1594 by the commissioners for executing the office of earl marshal ; and the " Roll of the King s Majesty s most Royal Proceeding through London " from the Tower to Whitehall on the eve of the coronation of James I., also arranged by the commissioners for executing the office of earl marshal. On many isolated points, too, of more or less importance special declaratory decisions have been from time to time propounded by the earls marshal, their substitutes and deputies; for example, in 1594, when the younger sons of dukes were placed before viscounts ; in 1625, when the rank of knights of the Bath and their wives was fixed ; and in 1615 and 1677, when the eldest sons of the younger sons of peers were placed before the eldest sons of knights and of baronets. It is from these miscellaneous sources that the precedence among others of all peeresses, the eldest sons and their wives and the daughters of all peers, and the younger sons and their wives of all dukes, marquesses, and earls is ascertained and established. And further, for the purpose of proving continuity of practice and disposing of minor questions not otherwise and more conclusively set at rest, the official programmes and accounts preserved 4 Patent Rolls, 14th Jac., part. ii. mem. 24 ; Selden, Titles of Honor, part ii. p. 752. 5 Cited by Sir Charles Young, Order of Precedence, with Authorities
and Remarks, p. 27 (London, 1851).