In France a limited body of the higher nobility, styled the peers, were in the enjoyment of privileges not possessed by the rest. The title of duke was subject to strict rule, but many titles of marquis and count, believed to be pure assumptions, were recognized by the courtesy of society. The head of a noble family often assumed at his own hand the title of marquis; and if an estate was purchased which had be longed to a titled family the purchaser was in the habit of transferring to him self the honors possessed by his pre decessor—a practice to which Louis XV. put a stop. Immediately before the Revolution 80,000 families claimed nobil ity, many of them of obscure station, and less than 3,000 of ancient lineage. Nobles and clergy together possessed two-thirds of the land. Practically, the estimation in which a member of the French nobility was held depended not so much on the degree of his title as on its antiquity, and the distinction of those who had borne it. The higher titles of nobility were not borne by all members of a family; each son assumed a title from one of the family estates— a custom productive of no small confu sion. Unlike "roturier" lands, which divided among all the children equally, noble fiefs went to the eldest son. The Revolution overthrew all distinction of ranks. A new nobility was created by the Emperor Napoleon I. in 1808, with titles descending to the eldest son. The
old nobility was again revived at the Restoration.
The aristocracy of Venice had its origin in commerce; and, though un titled, they were among the most distin guished class of nobles in Europe. On the other hand, in Florence, in the 14th century, under a constitution purely mercantile, nobility became a disqualifi cation from holding any office of the state.
The nobility of Spain boasts of a spe cial antiquity and purity of blood, a descent from warriors and conquerors alone. Hidalgo, in Spanish, is a term im plying gentility or nobility; the hidalgo alone has in strictness a right to the title "Don," which has latterly been used by persons who have no proper claim to it about as extensively as "Esquire" in England. The higher nobility are styled grandees; the class of nobility below them are called Titulados.
In the United States the National Con stitution declares (Art. I., Sec. 9), "No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States; and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, without the consent of Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State." Con gress sparingly gives its consent for a person in the service of the govern ment to accept a decoration or other mark of honor from another government. Private citizens are under no constitu tional restrictions.