CHANCELLOR, LORD. It is usually said that the existence of the office in England, as in the other states of Europe, is to be ascribed to the influence which the con stitution of the Roman empire had on the constitutions of the modern nations. This influence was exercised in no small measure through the medium of the church, the profession of the law being generally exercised by ecclesiastics; and it is for this reason, probably, that the bishop and the king are furnished with officers bearing the same title, and exercising analogous functions. The C. is always the confidential adviser of the sovereign in state affairs. It is for this reason that he has been called the keeper of his conscience, and that in England it is to him that the duty was intrusted of presiding over a court which acted on what were called—by way of contradistinc tion—equitable considerations. It is in this latter prerogative that the chief distinction exists between the C. and all other judges; for, whilst they are held by the letter of the law, he was at one time supposed to act rather juxta banum et aqu'uni. In certain more special points of view,there is a similarity between the functions of the chancellors in different states. "In all of them he seems to have had the supervision of all charters, letters, and such other public instruments of the crown as were authenticated in the most solemn manner; and therefore, when seals came into use, he had always the cus tody of the sovereign's great seal."—Stephen's Commentaries, vol. iii. p. 398. It is from this last-mentioned circumstance that the office of C., or keeper (q.v.), which, by 5 Eliz abeth, c. 18, is declared to be exactly the same, is created without writ or patent, by the mere delivery of the great seal, and that the C., if a baron, takes precedency of every temporal lord not a member of the royal family, and of all bishops except the archbishop of Canterbury. The C. is a by his office, a member of the cabinet, and prolocutor, or speaker of the house of lords, by prescription. Though the form in which his tenure of office is terminated, is by the resumption of the great seal by the sovereign, the C. practically resigns office with the party to which he is attached. He has the appointment of all justices of the peace throughout the kingdom, but this privilege he exercises generally on the recommendation of the lord-lieutenants. But
the most important, and, as it now seems, somewhat anomalous branch of his patron age, arises out of his having been originally an ecclesiastic. Though the last bishop who held the office was John Williams. archbishop of York, who was lord keeper from July 10, 1621, to Nov. 1, 1625, the C. still continues to be patron of all the crown livings of the value of £20 per annum, or under (though in 1863 about 300 were sold to aug ment the incomes of those sold and those retained), and visitor of all hospitals and col leges of the king's foundation. As representing the paternal character of the sovereign, again, the C. is the general guardian of all infants, idiots, and lunatics, and has the supervision of all charitable uses in the kingdom. As regards his judicial patronage, j the arrangement is, that the C. appoints in general all the judges of the superior courts, except the two chief-justices. who are nominated by the prime-minister of the day. Of inferior appointments, the latter also has reserved to him the commissioners of bank ruptcy and the judges of the county courts. All these functions the C. performs in addition to his extensive duties as the supreme judge of the court of chancery, both as an ordinary court of common law and of record, and as an extraordinary court of equity. Much inconvenience had arisen from the accumulation of duties in the single person of this high dignitary, and various expedients had been devised for lessening the evil. Vice-chancellors had been appointed, and the duties of the master of the rolls had been extended. In 1875, a considerable change was made by consolidating all the vice chancellors' courts into one division, called the chancery division of the high court. And the C.'s duties in the house of lords as the highest appeal court were lightened in 1876. The proposal of a minister of justice has, however, not yet found favor. The salary of the C. is £10,000 a year, and he has an annuity of £5,000 on his retirement from office. The style of the C., since the union with Scotland, has been lord high chancellor of Great Britain; but he has scarcely any jurisdiction in Scotland, and in Ireland there is a separate C., having powers in most respects the same as those of the C. of Great Britain. To slay the C. is treason under 25 Edward III. c. 2.