PRECEDENCE (ML. pra•cedcntia, from Lat. prweederc, to go before, from pew, before ± ccderc, to go, yield; connected with cadere, Skt. sad, to fall). The order in which individuals are entitled to follow one another in a state pro cession or on other public occasions. In former days questions of this sort were considered of great importance; thus the memoirs of Saint Simon are largely occupied with minute histories of acrid controversies ou these points. In mod ern times, with the gradual diminution of court ceremonial, less interest attaches to them; but they are still minutely regulated in some coun tries, either by statute law, by royal letters patent, or by ancient usage. The order of prece dence among different countries is in modern practice reduced, as in the signing of treaties by several powers, to the alphabetical order of their names. Precedence among the diplomatic repre sentatives accredited to any government depends upon the date of the presentation of their creden tials, ambassadors, however, ranking envoys and ministers plenipotentiary. Precedence involves the right to be presented, or to pass into a room, first ; but iu processions, especially those of ecclesiastical dignitaries, the persons of highest rank regularly come last.
In the United States the only positive pre cedence is that given by official position; and in the settling of uncertain questions arising under this system, there is no final authority, different administrations having acted in different ways. The position of foreign ambassadors, for example, is questionable. It has been claimed for them that as the personal representatives of sovereign powers, accredited to the Executive. they should come next to the President, and before the Vice President, who is only, so to speak, an heir apparent. There has been no official settlement of the question. It is also contended by some that the Governors of sovereign States of the Union should precede the General of the Army and the Admiral of the Navy, who are officers subordinate to the Federal Executive. A question has also been raised as to the position to be assigned to a United States ambassador when on leave at home. He is the personal representative of the Federal Government, and it may be held that he should have higher rank than the General of the Army or Admiral of the Navy. Great un certainty, however, has prevailed in the usage of Washington on similar points. The most generally
accepted order of official precedence at the na tional capital is as follows: The President : the Vice-President and Presi dent of the Senate; Ambassadors in their order; the Chief Justice of the United States; Senators; the Speaker of the House; Representatives in Congress: Associate Justices of the Supreme Court; the Secretary of State, members of the diplomatic corps other than ambassadors, and foreign members of international commissions; the Secretary of the Treasury; the Secretary of War: the Attorney-General; the Postmaster General; the Secretary of the Navy; the Secre tary of the Interior; the Secretary of Agricul ture: the Secretary of Commerce and Labor: the General of the Army and the Admiral of the Navy; the Governors of States: the Chief Justice and Associates of the Court of Claims: Circuit and District Judges of the United States; the Justices and Associates of Territories and Dis trict of Columbia; the Lieutenant-General and the Vice-Admiral; diplomatic representa tives of the United States; major-generals, rear admirals, and staff officers of equal rank; briga dier-generals and commodores; chiefs of quasi independent civil bureaus; chiefs of departmental bureaus in the order of their chief officers. Colonels, captains of the navy, staff officers of equal rank, the Colonel of the :Marine Corps; Consuls-General and consuls of foreign govern ments, according to date of exequatnr, and the same of the United States, according to seniority of service; lieutenant-colonels and majors of the army, commanders and lieutenant-commanders of the navy, and staff-officers of equal rank: the commissioners of the District of Columbia, Gov ernors of Territories, Lieutenant-Governors, and other elective State officers in their accepted order at home; captains, first lieutenants and second lieutenants of the army, lieutenants, masters. and ensigns of the navy, and staff officers of equal rank; assistant secretaries of executive depart ments, secretaries of legations, secretaries of the Senate and House of Representatives; and the clerk of the Supreme Court.
For the full table of precedence in England, consult any peerage; for that of Germany, Still fried, Ccrenionialbuch des preussischen Hofs (Berlin, 1878) ; for the older Continental usage, Hellbaeh, Handbuch des Hanyrcchts (An=sbach, 180-1).