CHANCELLOR, a judicial officer, who appears ori ginally to have been only a principal register or scribe under the emperors ; but in modern times has greatly advanced in dignity, having become, in different king doms of Europe, the chief administrator of justice. The name has also been extended to a variety of infe rior officers, but all of them of a judiciary character ; as chancellor of a diocese, or of a bishop ; chancellor of a university, of the exchequer, &c. Its etymology, as in so many other instances, is disputed; some deriving it from cancelli, because anciently the cancellarius is said to have sat within an inclosed place, or lattice, to protect him from the press of persons who had occasion to transact business with him : others preferring cancellare, to delete or cancel, because, as the highest point of his jurisdiction, he has the right of cancelling, by his own proper authority, the king's letters patent, when granted contrary to law ; an etymology, however, which is plain ly inconsistent with the originally subordinate nature of the office.
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain is the chief magistrate in the judicial establishment of the country. He takes precedence of the nobility, and also of all the spiritual lords, except the Archbishop of Can terbury. The office is, in later times, conferred by his majesty merely delivering the custody of his great seal ; and is, in like manner, determined by the seal being re sumed or resigned. It implies a very high, and, in many respects, an undefined authority in its judiciary capaci ty; and comprehends, besides, certain political dignities. With regard to the former, though all other judges in England are bound to give judgment by the strict rules of law, yet the chancellor, like the ancient praetors, has power to mitigate the severities which would otherwise frequently arise from its undistinguishing dictates, and to regulate his decisions secundum aequum et bonum. Or, in the words of Staundford, the chancellor has two powers, one absolute, the other ordinary ; meaning, that although, by his ordinary power, he must, in some cases, observe the form of proceeding as other judges, in his absolute power he is not limited by the law, but by con science and equity, according to the circumstances of things. Besides this exclusive jurisdiction which he
exercises in his court of chancery, the justices of the peace throughout the kingdom are of his appointment. And having been formerly, for the most part, an eccle siastic, when few else could be found sufficiently learned for the office, he presided over the royal chapel, and be came what is called Keeper of the king's conscience, a phrase, as we understand it, which implies that lie was a sort of chief confessor to the king, or the expounder of his casuistical difficulties on points of religion and justice. Ile is also visitor, in right of the king, of all hospitals and colleges of the king's foundation, and pa tron of all the king's livings under the value of twenty rnerks a-year in the king's books. He is, besides, the general guardian of all infants, ideots, and lunatics, and has the general superintendence of charitable uses. With regard to his political dignities, the principal seem to be that of being a member of the privy council, in virtue of his office, and also, (according to Lord Ellesmere,) of being prolocutor of the House of Lords.
Previously to the statute 5 Eliz. c. 18, the chancellor and lord keeper were distinct officers, having different powers ; but by that statute both officers are declared to have one and the same power, so that there cannot, since that statute, be a lord keeper and a lord chancellor at the same time.
With regard to the variety of inferior officers to whom the appellation of chancellor has, in modern times, been extended, we cannot take room to detail any part their different local or subordinate jurisdictions and dignities. The principal officers so denominated are, the chancel lor of the exchequer, who manages the royal revenues, and, along with the treasurer, chief baron, and other judges, presides in the court of equity held in the ex chequer chamber ; chancellor of the order of the garter, and of other military orders; chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster; chancellors of universities; chancellors in ca thedral churches; and chancellor of a diocese, or of a bishop. Sec Selden's Discourse touching the Office of Chancellor; Blackstone's comm.a &c. (J. Is.)