CHANCELLOR, in ancient times a petty officer stationed at the fence of bars or lattice-work in a law-court, to introduce such functionaries as were en titled to pass inside.
The Lord Chancellor of England was originally the king's chief secretary, to whom petitions were referred, whence he was called ref erendarius. This title subsequently gave place to chancellor, which first occurs, according to Selden, in English history about A. D. 920. Be ing generally an ecclesiastic, he became keeper of the king's conscience. Having to express the sovereign's views in cases appealed to him from the courts of law, he gradually acquired a great legal standing himself, and finally developed into the potent personage now denom inated the Lord Chancellor, or more fully the Lord High Chancellor. He is now the highest judicial functionary in the kingdom; he is keeper of the great seal; he presides in the House of Lords, of which he is prolocutor; he is a cabinet minister and privy councillor; presides in what was the Court of Chancery (once spelled chancelry), but is now the Chancery Division of the Supreme Court; appoints all justices of the peace throughout the kingdom; is the general guardian of all infants, idiots, and luna tics; visitor of the hospitals and colleges of royal foundation; and patron of all livings under a specified value. He goes out with the ministry of which he is a member.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer of England is, properly, the under-treas urer of the exchequer, the head treas urership being held, not by an individ ual, but by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. The chancellor has, how ever, a very powerful voice in connec tion with the exchequer. He must be in
the House of Commons, and may be its leader, and also Prime Minister.
The Chancellor of the former German Empire was an officer, the extent of whose power and influence had never been exactly defined. In modern Ger many since the unification of the Ger man Empire the office was made illustri ous by its association with the name of Bismarck, the first to hold that position under the new regime. In general terms it may be stated that the German Chan cellor was an executive of very great powers, being at once the adviser and prime minister of the Emperor. He combined the functions of one of the American department secretaries with those of the promoter and originator of political policy. The new constitution of the German republic provides that the Chancellor shall be appointed and dis missed by the President, and shall sug gest to the latter the appointment or dismissal of the other cabinet ministers. The Chancellor, however, under the new constitution, needs the confidence of the Reichstag for the fulfillment of his of fice and must withdraw in the event that the Reichstag by explicit resolution withholds its confidence. The Chancel lor shall preside in the government ad ministration and shall conduct its af fairs in accordance with an order of business which shall be determined by the administration and approved by the President of the Republic. He shall determine the line of policy and shall assume, responsibility therefore to the Reichstag.