DOCTOR, a person who has passed all the degrees of a faculty, and is empower ed to teach or practise the same : thus we say, doctor in divinity, doctor in physic,. doctor of laws.
The title of doctor seems to have been created in the XIIth century, instead of master, and established, with the other scholastic degrees of bachelors and licen tiates, by Peter Lombard and Gilbert Porreus, then the divines of the University of Paris. Gratian did the same thing, at the same time, in the Uni versity of Bologna. Though the two names of doctor and master were used a long time together, yet many think that their functions were different, the mas ters teaching the human sciences, and the doctors those sciences depending on re= velation and faith. Spelman takes the ti tle of doctor not to have commenced till after the publication of "Lombard's Sen tences," about the year 1140, and affirms that such as explained that work to their schojars were the first that had the appel- 1 latioflybf doctors.
To pass doctor in divinity, at Oxford, it ) is necessary the candidate have been four ii years bachelor of divinity. For doctor of laws, he must have been seven years ie the university to commence bachelor of laws, five years after which he may be admitted doctor of laws. Otherwise, in three years after taking the degree of master of arts, he may take the degree of bachelor in laws, and in four years more that of doctor : which same method and time are likewise required to pass the degree of doCtor in physic. At Cam
bridge, to take the degree of doctor in divinity, it is required the candidate have been seven years bachelor of divinity though in several colleges the bachelor's degree is dispensed with, and they may go out per sallum. To commence doctor in laws, the candidate must have been five years bachelor of laws, or seven years master of arts. To pass doctor in physic, he must have been bachelor in physic five years, or seven years master of arts. It is remarkable, that by a statute of 37 Hen. VIII. a doctor of civil law may ex ercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction, though a layman.
Doctor in music, a musician upon whom some university has conferred the degree of doctor in the faculty of music. By the qualifications formerly required of a candidate, either for a doctor or ba chelor's degree in music, it should seem that the science was regarded merely as speculative. The present statutes, how ever, are formed on a broader principle, and, looking to talent and active science for the necessary qualifications, require of the candidate an exercise in eight vo cal parts, with instrumental accompani ments, which he is to submit to the in spection of the_ musical professor, and to have performed in the music school, or some other public place in the univer sity.