Serjeant or Sergeant

SERJEANT or SERGEANT, the title (I) of a non-com missioned officer in the army and of a subordinate officer of police to which the spelling "Sergeant" now applies; the designation also, with the spelling "Serjeant," of (2) certain officials of the royal household and (3) the name formerly given to the highest rank of barristers in England and Ireland (see SERJEANT-AT-LAW). In the middle ages serviens had a variety of applications from the ser viens de pane et mensa, the domestic servant of a monastery, to the servientes de armis, the serjeants-at-arms of monarchs, and vassals who held by a special service (see SERJEANTY). The ser jeants (fratres servientes) formed also an important division of the great military orders (see SAINT JOHN OF JERUSALEM, KNIGHTS OF THE ORDER OF THE HOSPITAL OF ; TEMPLARS). Du Cange (Glossarium, s.v. "Serviens") gives other instances.

Military Title.

In the 13th century on the continent of Europe the term Sergeant referred to a foot-soldier, but gradually it became attached to the tenant in charge of a knight's party on service, and usually a tenant who had seen some service. With the abolition of armies on feudal lines, the sergeant became an im portant member of a company in a regiment, and in the 17th century he was always "elected" to his position by the captain. He had great powers of authority over the men but Barry (1634) counsels him not to "slashe or cutt soulders with his swourde, except uppon juste occationes." Up to the i9th century the in signe of office of a sergeant was the halberd. All military writers of the i6th, 17th and i8th centuries allot innumerable duties to the sergeant, which clearly indicate that he was the captain's right-hand man in all matters of drill and interior economy (see MAJOR). The term is not found in organised cavalry until the i8th century and even now it is not used in the British Household Cavalry, the equivalent rank therein being "corporal-of-horse."

In 1641 Hexham states that there should be 2 sergeants to a pri vate company and 3 to a colonel's or double company, the sen ior being termed the "Eldest Sergeant." In modern armies sergeant is the N.C.O. rank immediately above corporal. A lance-sergeant is a corporal holding an appoint ment of a temporary nature between the ranks of corporal and sergeant. As it is now the almost universal practice to indicate in a N.C.O.'s title the particular duties he performs, the word sergeant forms part of numerous titles, e.g., orderly-room sergeant, band-sergeant, signalling-sergeant.

Serjeants-at-Arms.---In the British royal household there are eight serjeants-at-arms, whose duties are ceremonial; they have to be in attendance only at drawing-rooms, levees, State balls and State concerts. There are also two other serjeants-at-arms to whom special duties are assigned, the one attending the Speaker of the House of Commons and the other the lord chancellor in the House of Lords, carrying their maces and executing their orders. The Speaker's serjeant-at-arms is the disciplinary officer of the House of Commons, whose duty it is to expel members at the order of the Speaker and to arrest and keep in custody those persons condemned to this punishment by the authority of the House. The serjeants-at-arms have no special uniform. At court they wear any naval, military or civil uniform to which they may be entitled, or the court dress of those holding legal appointments, but not entitled to wear robes, i.e., a suit of black cloth, with knee breeches, lace bands and ruffles, a black silk cocked hat with rosette and steel loop and a sword. A silver collar of office is worn on special occasions.

In the United States, the executive officer of certain legislative bodies is called the sergeant-at-arms.