PRECEDENCE, in official life, the order in which men and women follow each other ac cording to rank and dignity in a State proces sion or on other public occasions. In England the order of precedence depends partly on stat utes and partly on ancient usage and established custom. Questions arising on matters of prece dence depending on usage are hardly considered as definitely settled and are in a great measure left to the discretion of the officers of arms. The sovereign, of course, is always first in or der of precedence, after whom in descending order follow the Prince of Wales, younger sons of the sovereign, grandsons of the sovereign, brothers of the sovereign, uncles of the sover eign, nephews of the sovereign, ambassadors, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord High Chancellor, the Archbishop of York, the Prime Minister, and so on through the high state dig nitaries, the various ranks of the peerage, etc. The order of precedence among women fol lows the same rules as that among men, except that wives and daughters of men possessing official precedence do not participate therein and are ranked entirely by whatever personal stand ing they may possess by virtue of inherited titles or dignities. By the acts of Union of Scotland and Iteland the precedence in any given degree of the peerage has been established as follows: (1) Peers of England; (2) Peers of Scotland; (3) Peers of Great Britain; (4) Peers of Ireland; (5) Peers of the United Kingdom and Peers of Ireland created subse quent to the Union. The question of precedence
in recent times has lost much of its former importance as a result of the spread of demo cratic institutions. England is, perhaps, still more interested to-day than any other country and has more extensive and detailed regulations concerning it, though, of course, rules govern ing precedence are in existence in practically every civilized country in the world.
In the United States the most generally ac cepted order in Washington official life is as follows: Then follow the judiciary, diplomatic rep resentatives of the United States, army and navy officers, chiefs of departments, foreign consuls, secretaries of legations, etc.
Questions of international precedence arising as a result of international commissions or of the signing of treaties by several countries, are solved usually by arranging the names of the countries in alphabetical order. The precedence of diplomatic representatives is determined by the date of the presentation of their credentials, except that ambassadors outrank envoys and ministers plenipotentiary. Consult Burke, 'Peer MacKenzie, Sir George, 'Observation Upon the Laws and Customs of Nations as to Precedency' (Edinburgh 1680) ; Hellbach, J. C. von, 'Handbuch des Rangreehts' (Ansbach 1804).