APPENDIX VII
Terms Relating to Ranks and Titles
The following is a summary description, in alphabetical order, of the various ranks which confer titles upon individuals; together with a brief account of a few terms which frequently occur in the personal memoirs of each possessor of these dignities: —
Archbishops. — The highest dignity in the Church is that of “metropolitan prelate” or archbishop. He exercises control over Bishops; and the limit of his archiepiscopal jurisdiction is called “a province”. But in addition to these functions, he has the actual care of a diocese, in which he performs all the duties of a suffragan prelate, owing obedience, however, only to the Crown and the Parliament. The Archbishop of Canterbury can issue licences for marriages to be solemnized at any time or place; and he has the power of granting degrees like those of a University.
Baron. — This though now the lowest rank in the peerage is the most ancient. It may be derived from a writ of summons or from letters patent. The former, if followed by an actual sitting in the House of Lords, constitutes a title heritable by heirs male and female of the body of the person summoned. The latter always prescribes the course of descent in express words. Both these kinds of Baronies are in existence; but formerly another class drew their honours from the possession of certain lands. These “Baronies by tenure” are obsolete, though many heirs of such titles exist, possessing baronies by writ or patent.
Baronets. — This order of titled persons was founded in England by James I., 1611; in Ireland, to promote the plantation of Ulster, by the same King, 1619; and in Scotland, for the advancement of Nova Scotia, by Charles I., 1625. It owes its birth to the necessities of James, who sought to recruit his finances by the condition annexed to the title of paying into the exchequer about 1095l., being ostensibly three years’ pay of thirty soldiers at 8d. a day per man. The institution of the order in Scotland was connected with a scheme for colonizing Nova Scotia, and down to 1638 the patents contained a grant of
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