The Chaacenor E,rcbe op. r the Min ister of Finance under the British Government. He is a member of the Cabinet and of the Douse of c_onituons. Formerly he was a judge ex offieio of the chancery division of the Court of Excheq uer, hut the equity jurisdiction of the Court of Exchequer was transferred to the Court of C'han eery by statute 5 Viet. V., since which he has had no judicial functions. See IlEcus: Ex CHEQUER, The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancash• is an officer who formerly presided over the courts of law and equity in the Duehy of Lancaster. He is a member of the Cabinet. The office is now a sinecure.
In several of the States the term chan cellor has been applied to the chief judicial officer of the court of chancery when such court has been maintained as a distinct court from the courts of common law. In several of the States the judges of law courts have been given equity jurisdiction, thus doing away with the separate court of chancery. The title has not been used in New York since 1549, when the law courts of that State were given equity jurisdiction. The court and title still exist in Delaware, New Jersey, and sonic other States. The term is also employed in designating the foreman of the Scotch jury, the secretary of an embassy or con sulate. the administrative officer of a college or university, or of an order. (See CHANCERY EQULTV. i Tn Oxford and Cambridge the chan cellor is generally some great nobleman, and has little or no connection with university ad ministration, which is in the hands of the vice chancellor. chosen from among the heads of the
I °lieges. In the United States chancellor is used in a few instances for president, to designate the head of an educational institution.
In the ecclesiastical use of the term, the chan cellor of a cathedral is a dignified official, usually a canon. who superintends the arrangements for the celebration of the religious services. Eis :Hee is quite distinct from that of the rhanccllor of a diocese, who is vicar-general to the bishop, and an ecclesiastical judge appointed to assist the bishop in questions of ecclesiastical law. hold his courts for him. 'By 37 Henry Chap. 17. it is provided that the chancellor of a diocese may be a layman, whether married or sin de. liroi hied he be doctor of the civil law lawfully create and made in some university. By the canons of IC13 he must. be a bachelor of law at least, or a master of arts. There are cer tain however, in which the bishop 'must sit in person. In ease of complaint against a clerk in holy order-. for any ecclesiastical offense against the Church Discipline Act (3 and 4 Viet.. Chap. Sli). the bishop is to hear the cause, as sisted by three assessors. of whom the dean of his eathedral. or ono of his archdeacons, or his chancellor. must be olio: and a sergeant-at-law. or advoeate who has practiced five years in the court, of the archbishop of the province, or bar rister of seven years' standing. another.