Chancellors of Ireland and Scotland.— There is a Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, who is the head of the judicial bench, with a salary of f8,000. He is not a member of the British ministry. The chancellorship of Scot land was abolished at the union. The Scottish Chancellor had no independent jurisdiction in equity, as there has never been a separate court of equity in Scotland; but he presided in Parliament, and was head of all the courts of judicature and of the Scottish office of chan cery, in which all charters and other writs ap pointed to pass the great seal were recorded.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the Finance Minister of the Cabinet and as all questions of supply originate in the House of Commons, a peer is ineligible for this office, which originated in the separation of the chancery from the exchequer in the reign of Henry III. The holder of this office in recent years is generally held as having the reversion to the premiership, with which it has occasion ally been conjoined.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is the representative of the Crown in the man agement of the lands of the duchy, which are the personal property of the sovereign. The office is a sinecure and is usually held by a minister of Cabinet rank, of high standing in the country, but who is unable to bear the physical strain incident to the management of a heavy department.
The Chancellor of a University is an official at the head of the university, generally a man of rank, whose duties arc more or less nominal, but who is regarded as conferring the degrees. At Oxford his duties are almost entirely dis charged by the vice-chancellor; the chancellor's own acts being limited to the signing of diplo mas, etc. Under the vice-chancellor are four pro-vice-chancellors, nominated by him from among the heads of colleges, to one of whom, in his absence from the university, he delegates his authority. The chancellor of Cambridge University, whose duties arc very similar to those of the Oxford official, is elected bienni ally by the senate; but there is no instance, at least in modern times, where a re-election has not taken place.
Chancellor of the Order of the Garter and Other Military Orders, an officer who seals the commissions and the mandates of the chapter and assembly of the knights of the order, keeps the register of their proceedings and delivers their acts under the seal of their order. The title "chancellor" is given, in England, to sev eral officers of other bodies.
Chancellors of Other European Countries.
— The Chancellor was one of the highest offi cers in the German states and by the influence of his office was one of the most important. In Germany this dignity was from the remotest times vested in one of the higher clergy, until the head of the German derv, the archbishop and Elector of Mainz, united it forever with his office as arch-chancellor of the empire. The two other spiritual electors held the same dig nity, but it was merely titular; the archbishop of Cologne, as arch-chancellor of Italy; the archbishop of Trives, as arch-chancellor of Gaul and Arles, that is, the kingdom of Burgundy, once belonging to Germany. The arch-chan cellorship of Mainz, on the contrary, had im portant duties attached to it — the direction of the Diet and of the public business, as well as of all Imperial chanceries. The Elector appoint ed a vice-chancellor, who was the actual min ister of the empire at the Imperial court. In the new German empire the Chancellor (Reichskanzler) is the president of the Fed eral Council (Bundesrath), and has the general conduct of the imperial administration. All laws of the empire, after being sanctioned by the Emperor, must be countersigned when pro mulgated by the Chancellor.
The Chancellor of France held a position analogous to that in England, was the highest officer of state and the only one who, when once appointed, could not be dismissed. In case, therefore, it was desired to remove him from participation in affairs, a keeper of the seals (garde des sceaux) was appointed. As the Chancellor was properly the Minister of Justice, he was chosen from the body of jurists. A relic of his spiritual character was, that all his furniture, liveries and even his coach, were black.