PRECEDENCE. This word in the sense in which it is here employed means priority of place, or superiority of rank, in the conventional system of arrangement under which the more eminent and dignified orders of the community are classified on occasions of public ceremony and in the intercourse of private life. In the United Kingdom there is no complete and comprehensive code whereby the scheme of social gradation has been defined and settled, once and for all, on a sure and lasting foundation. The principles and rules at present controlling it have been formulated at different periods and have been derived from various sources. The crown is the fountain of honour, and it is its undoubted prerogative to confer on any of its sub-jects, in any part of its dominions, such titles and dis-tinctions and such rank and place as to it may seem meet and convenient. Its discretion in this respect is altogether unbounded at common law, and is limited in those cases only wherein it has been submitted to restraint by Act of parliament. In the old time all questions of precedence came in the ordinary course of things within the juris-diction of the Court of Chivalry, in which the lord high constable and earl marshal presided as judges, and of which the kings of arms, heralds, and pursuivants were the assessors and executive officers. When, however, points of unusual moment and magnitude happened to be brought into controversy, they were occasionally considered and decided by the sovereign in person, or by a special commission, or by the privy council, or even by the parliament itself. But it was not until towards the middle of the 16th century that precedence was made the subject of any legislation in the proper meaning of the term.
In 1539 an Act "for the placing of the Lords in Parliament" (31 Hen. VIII. c. 10) was passed at the instance of the king, and by it the relative rank of the members of the royal family, of the great officers of state and the household, and of the hierarchy and the peerage was de-finitely and definitively ascertained. In 1563 an Act "for declaring the authority of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and the Lord Chancellor to be the same " (5 Eliz. c. 18) also declared their precedence to be the same. In 1689 an Act " for enabling Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal to execute the office of Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper " (1 Will, and Mary c. 21) gave to the commissioners not being peers of the realm place next to the speaker of the House of Commons and to the speaker place next to the peers of the realm. In 1707 the Act of Union with Scotland (6 Anne c. 11) provided that all peers of Scotland should be peers of Great Britain and should have rank immedi-ately after the peers of the like degrees in England at the time of the Union and before all peers of Great Britain of the like degrees created after the Union. In 1800 the Act of Union with Ireland (39 and 40 Geo. III. c. 67) pro-vided that the lords spiritual of Ireland should have rank immediately after the lords spiritual of the same degree in Great Britain, and that the lords temporal of Ireland should have rank immediately after the lords temporal of the same degree in Great Britain at the time of the Union, and further that "peerages of Ireland created after the Union should have precedence with peerages of the United Kingdom created after the Union according to the dates of their creation." At different times too during the current century several statutes have been passed for the reform and extension of the judicial organization which have very materially affected the precedence of the judges, more especially the Judicature Act of 1873 (36 and 37 Vict, c. 66), under which the lords justices of appeal and the justices of the High Court now receive their appointments. But the statute of Henry VIII. " for the placing of the Lords " still remains the only legislative measure in which it has been attempted to deal directly and systematically with any large and important section of the scale of general precedence; and the law, so far as it relates to the ranking of the sovereign's immediate kindred whether lineal or collateral, the principal ministers of the crown and court, and both the spiritual and temporal members of the House of Lords, is to all practical intents and purposes what it was made by that statute nearly 350 years ago. Where no Act of parliament applies, precedence is determined either by the will and pleasure of the sovereign or by what is accepted as "ancient usage and established custom." Of the sovereign's will and pleasure the appropriate method of announcement is by warrant under the sign-manual, or letters patent under the great seal. But, although the crown has at all periods very frequently conceded special privileges of rank and place to particular persons, its interference with the scale of general precedence has been rare and exceptional. In 1540 it was provided by warrant from Henry VIII. that certain officers of the household therein named should precede the secretaries of state when and if they were under the degree of barons. In 1612 James I. directed by letters patent, not without long and elaborate argument in the Star Chamber, that baronets, then newly created, should be ranked after the younger sons of viscounts and barons, and that a number of political and judicial functionaries should be ranked between knights of the Garter and such knights bannerets as should be made by the sovereign in person " under his Standard displayed in an Army Royal in open war." Four years later he further directed, also by letters patent, that the sons of baronets and their wives and the daughters of baronets should be placed before the sons of knights and their wives and the daughters of knights " of what degree or order soever." And again in 1620 the same king commanded by warrant "after solemn argument before his Majesty" that the younger sons of earls should precede knights of the privy council and knights of the Garter not being "barons or of a higher degree." If we add to these ordinances the provisions relating to precedence contained in the statutes of several of the orders of knighthood which since then have been instituted or reconstructed, we shall nearly, if not quite, exhaust the catalogue of the interpositions of the sovereign with regard to the rank and place of classes as dis-tinguished from individuals. Of " ancient usage and estab-lished custom " the records of the College of Arms furnish the fullest and most trustworthy evidence. Among them in particular there is a collection of early tables of preced-ence which were published by authority at intervals from the end of the 14th to the end of the 15th century, and to which peculiar weight has been attached by many successive generations of heralds. On them, indeed, as illustra-tive of and supplementary to the action of parliament and the crown, all subsequent tables of precedence have been in great measure founded. The oldest is the " Order of All Estates of Nobles and Gentry," prepared apparently for the coronation of Henry IV. in 1399, under the super-vision of Ralph Nevill, earl of Westmoreland and earl marshal ; and the next is the " Order of All States of Wor-ship and Gentry," prepared, as announced in the heading, for the coronation of Henry VI. in 1429, under the super-vision of the lord protector Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, and the earl marshal, John Mowbray, duke of Norfolk. Two more are of the reign of Edward IV., and were sever-ally issued ' by John Tiptoft, earl of Worcester and lord high constable, in 1467, and by Anthony Widvile, Earl Rivers and lord high constable, in 1479. The latest is commonly and shortly known as the "Series Ordinum," and was drawn up by a sjjecial commission presided over by Jasper Tudor, duke of Bedford, it is presumed for observance at the marriage of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York in 1486. To these may be added the " Order for the Placing of Lords and Ladies," taken at a grand entertainment given by command of Henry VIII. at the king's manor-house of Richmond in 1520 by Charles Somerset, earl of Worcester, lord chamberlain of the household, to the French ambassador, Olivier de la Vernade, seigneur de la Bâtie; the "Precedency of All Estates," arranged in 1594 by the commissioners for executing the office of earl marshal ; and the " Roll of the King's Majesty's most Royal Proceeding through London " from the Tower to Whitehall on the eve of the coronation of James I., also arranged by the commissioners for executing the office of earl marshal. On many isolated points, too, of more or less importance special declaratory decisions have been from time to time propounded by the earls marshal, their substitutes and deputies; for example, in 1594, when the younger sons of dukes were placed before viscounts; in 1625, when the rank of knights of the Bath and their wives was fixed ; and in 1615 and 1677, when the eldest sons of the younger sons of peers were placed before the eldest sons of knights and of baronets. It is from these miscellaneous sources that the precedence among others of all peeresses, the eldest sons and their wives and the daughters of all peers, and the younger sons and their wives of all dukes, marquesses, and earls is ascertained and established. And further, for the purpose of proving continuity of practice and disposing of minor questions not otherwise and more conclusively set at rest, the official programmes and accounts preserved by tbe heralds of different public solemnities and proces-sions, such as coronations, royal marriages, state funerals, national thanksgivings, and so on, have always been con-sidered to be of great historical and technical value.
1.—General Precedence of Men.
The sovereign; (1) prince of Wales; (2) younger sons of the sovereign; (3) grandsons of the sovereign; (4) brothers of the sovereign; (5) uncles of the sovereign; (6) nephews of the sovereign; (7) archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England; (8) lord high chancellor of Great Britain or lord keeper of the great seal; (9) archbishop of York, primate of England; (10) lord high treasurer of Great Britain; (11) lord president of the privy council; (12) lord keeper of the privy seal; (13) lord great chamberlain of England; (14) lord high constable of England; (15) earl marshal; (16) lord high admiral; (17) lord steward of the household; (18) lord chamberlain of the household; (19) dukes; (20) mar-
= = =
6 It is provided by 31 Hen. VIII. c. 10 that "the Great Chamber-lain, the Constable, the Marshal, the Lord Admiral, the Grand Mastei or Lord Steward, and the King's Chamberlain shall sit and be placed after the Lord Privy Seal in manner and form following : that is to say, every one of them shall sit and be placed above all other personages being of the same estates or degrees that they shall happen to be of, that is to say the Great Chamberlain first, the Constable next, the Marshal third, the Lord Admiral the fourth, the Grand Master or Lord Steward the fifth, and the King's Chamberlain the sixth." The lord high steward of England is not mentioned in the Act for the placing of the Lords, " because it was intended," Lord Chief Justice Coke says, " that when the use of him should be necessary he should not endure longer than hacvice" (Inst, iv., 77). But it maybe noted that, when his office is called out of abeyance for coronations or trials by the House of Lords, the lord high steward is the greatest of all the great officers of state in England. The office of lord great chamberlain of England is hereditary, and is held jointly during alternate reigns by the heads of the houses of Willoughby de Eresby and Cholmondeley as representing co-heiresses of the Berties, dukes of Ancaster, who de-rived it from an heiress of the De Veres, earls of Oxford, in whose line it had descended from the reign of Henry I. By a private Act, 1 Geo. I. c. 3, passed previous to the advancement of Robert Bertie, marquess of Lindsey, to the dukedom of Ancaster in 1715, it was provided that the tenure of the great chamberlainship should not give him and his heirs precedence of all other dukes except when in the immediate dis-charge of the functions of the office ; and Sir Bernard Burke still restricts the precedence of the lord great chamberlain to him " when in actual performance of official duty" (Book of Precedence, p. 10). But, as Sir Charles Young justly contends, "the limitations of this statute (1 Geo. I. c. 3) failed on the death of the last Duke of Ancaster in 1809 [he should have said "the last duke of Ancaster, who held the great chamberlainship in 1779"], when the precedence of the office of Great Chamberlain fell under the operation of the 31st of Henry VIII." (Order of Precedence, p. 20). The office of lord high constable of England is called out of abeyance for and pending coronations only. The office of earl marshal is hereditary in the Howards, dukes of Norfolk, premier dukes and, as earls of Arundel, premier earls of England, under a grant in special tail male from Charles II. in 1672. The office of lord high admiral, like the office of lord high treasurer, is practically extinct as a dignity. Since the reign of Queen Anne there has been only one lord high admiral, namely, William, duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV., for a few months in the Canning administration of 1827. The office is executed by commission, the lords of the admiralty being as destitute of any official precedence as the lords of the treasury, although the first lord of the admiralty is invariably a leading cabinet minister. The lord steward and the lord chamberlain of the household are always peers, and have seldom been under the degree of earls. We may here remark that both the Scottish and Irish Acts of Union make no reference to the precedence of the great officers of state of Scotland and Ireland. Not to mention the prince of Wales, who is by birth steward of Scot-land, the earl of Shrewsbury is hereditary great seneschal of Ireland, and the earl of Errol is hereditary lord high constable of Scotland ; but what places they are entitled to in the scale of general precedence is altogether doubtful and uncertain. In Ireland the great seneschal ranks after the lord chancellor if he is a commoner, and after the archbishop of Dublin if the lord chancellor is a peer, and in both cases before dukes ("Order of Precedence," Dublin Gazette, 3d June 1843). Again, on George IV.'s visit to Edinburgh in 1821 the lord high constable had place as the first subject in Scotland immediately after the members of the royal family. At every coronation from that of George III. to that of Queen Victoria, the lord high constable of Scotland has been placed next to the earl marshal of England, and, although no rank has been assigned on these occasions to the hereditary great seneschal of Ireland, the lord high constable of Ireland appointed for the ceremony has been at all or most of them placed next to the lord high constable of Scotland. It is worthy of notice, however, that Sir George Mackenzie, writing when lord advocate of Scotland in the reign of Charles II., says that "the Constable and Marischal take not place as Officers of filie Crown but according to their creation as Earls," and he moreover expresses the opinion that "it seems very strauge that these who ride upon the King's right and left hand when he returns from his Parliaments and who guard the Parliament itself, and the Honours, should have no precedency by their offices " (Obser-vations, &c., p. 25, in Guillim's Display of Heraldry, p. 461 sq.; but see also Wood-Douglas, Peerage of Scotland, vol. i. p. 557).
7 Both Sir Charles Young and Sir Bernard Burke place " Dukes of the Blood Royal" before dukes, their eldest sons before marquesses, and their younger sons before marquesses' eldest sons. In the "Ancient Tables of Precedence," which we have already eited, dukes of the blood royal are always ranked before other dukes, and in most of them their eldest sons and in some of them their younger sons are placed in a corresponding order of precedence. But in this connexion the words of the Act for the placing of the Lords are perfectly plain and unambiguous : "All Dukes not aforementioned," i.e., all except onlv such
quesses ; (21) dukes' eldest sons;1 (22) earls; (23) marquesses' eldest sons; (24) dukes' younger sons ; (25) viscounts ; (26) earls' eldest sons; (27) marquesses' younger sons; (28) bishops; (29) barons; (30) speaker of the House of Commons; (31) commissioners of the great seal; (32) treasurer of the household; (33) comptroller of the household; (34) master of the horse; (35) vice-chamberlain of the household; (36) secretaries of state; (37) viscounts' eldest sons; (38) earls' younger sons; (39) barons' eldest sons; (40) knights of the Garter;6 (41) privy councillors;6 (42) chancellor of the exchequer; (43) chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster; (44) lord chief justice of England; (45) master of the rolls; (46) lords justices of appeal;7 (47) judges of the High Court of Justice;8 (48) knights bannerets made by the sovereign in person; (49) viscounts' younger sons; (50) barons' younger sons; (51) baronets;9 (52) knights bannerets not made by the sovereign in person; (53) knights of the first class of the Bath, the Star of India, and St Michael and St George;10 (54) knights of the second class of the Bath, the Star of India, and St Michael and St George; (55) knights bachelors ;12 (56) eldest sons of the younger sons of peers; (57) baronets' eldest sons; (58) knights' eldest sons ; (59) baronets' younger sons ; (60) knights' younger
as shall happen to be the king's son, the king's brother, the king's uncle, the king's nephew, or the king's brother's or sister's son, '' Marquesses, Earls, Viscounts, and Barons, not having any of the offices aforesaid, shall sit and be placed after their aucienty as it hath been accustomed." As Lord Chief Justice Coke and Mr Justice Black-stone observe, the degrees of consanguinity with the sovereign to which precedence is given by 31 Hen. VIII. c. 10 are the same as those within which it was made high treason by 28 Hen. VIII. c. 18 for any man to contract marriage without the consent of the king. Queen Victoria, by letters patent under the great seal in 1865, ordained that, " besides the children of Sovereigns of these realms, the children of the sons of any of the Sovereigns of Great Britain and Ireland shall have and at all times hold and enjoy the style or attribute of ' Royal Highness ' with their titular dignity of Prince or Princess pre-fixed to their respective Christian names, or with their other titles of honour." But, notwithstanding this, their rank and place are still governed by the Act for the placing of the Lords. Thus the duke of Cambridge, although he is, as the son of a son of George III., pro-perly designated " Royal Highness " under the letters patent of 1865, has no precedence as the first cousin of the sovereign under the statute of 1539. In the same way the duke of Cumberland has no precedence as the first cousin once removed of Queen Victoria, and being the grandson only of a son of George III. would not be a "Royal Highness" at all if his father had not been, like his grandfather, king of Hanover. In Garter s Roll of tlie Lords Spiritual and Temporal, the official list of the House of Lords, the duke of Cambridge is entered before the archbishop of Canterbury, instead of in the precedence of his dukedom after the duke of Leinster, while the duke of Cumberland is entered in the precedence of his dukedom after the duke of Northumberland. By the etiquette of society, however, both of them are regarded and treated as royal dukes, and even in parliament they are always alluded to not as "noble" but as "illustrious." Under the combined opera-tion of the Act for the placing of the Lords and the Acts of Union with Scotland (art. 23) and with Ireland (art. 4), peers of the same degrees, as dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons, severally, have precedence according to priority in the creation of their respective peerages. But peerages of England created before 1707 precede peer-ages of Scotland created before 1707, peerages of Great Britain created between 1707 and 1801 precede peerages of Ireland created before 1801, and peerages of Ireland created before 1801 precede peerages of the United Kingdom and of Ireland created after 1801, which take precedence in common. The relative precedence of the members of the House of Lords, including the representative peers of Scotland and Ireland, is officially set forth in Garter's Roll, which is prepared by the Garter king of arms at the commencement of each session of parliament, that of the Scottish peers generally in the Union Roll, and that of the Irish peers generally in Ulster's Roll, a record which is under the charge of and is periodically corrected by the Ulster king of arms. The Union Roil is founded on the " Decreet of Ranking" pronounced and promulgated by a royal commission in 1606, which, in the words of an eminent authority in such matters, "was adopted at once as the roll of the peers in Parliament, convention, and all public meetings, and continued to be called uninterruptedly with such alterations upon it as judgments of the Court of Session upon appeal in modification of the precedency of certain peers rendered necessary, with the omission of such dignities as became extinct and with the addition from time to time of newly created peerages—down to the last sitting of the Scottish Parliament on the 1st May 1707 " (The Earldom of Mar, &c., by the earl of Crawford (25th) and Balcarres (8th), vol. ii. p. 16). As the crown was precluded by the Act of Union from creating peerages of Scotland after the Union, all Scottish peers in their several degrees have rank and place before all peers of Great Britain, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
1 Eldest sons of peers of any given degree are of the same rank as, but are to be placed immediately after, peers of the first degree under that of their fathers ; and the younger sons of peers of any given degree are of the same rank, but are to be placed immediately after peers of the second degree and the eldest sons of peers of the first degree under that of their fathers.
sons; (61) companions of the Bath, the Star of India, St Michael and St George, and the Indian Empire ;2 (62) esquires;8 (63) gentlemen.4
1 The sons of all persons, when any specified rank is assigned to them, are placed in the precedence of their fathers. Eldest sons of the younger sons of peers were ranked before the eldest sons of knights by order of the earl marshal, 18th March 1615, and before the eldest sons of baronets by order of the earl marshal, 6th April 1677. But no precedence has been given to the younger sons of the younger sons of peers, although precedence is given to the younger as well as the eldest sons of baronets and knights by James I.'s decree of 1616. Moreover, no precedence has been given to either the eldest or the younger sons of the eldest sons of peers. But in practice this omis-sion is generally disregarded, and the children of the eldest sons of dukes, marquesses, and earls, at all events, are accorded the same rank and titles which they would have if their fathers were actual in-stead of quasi peers of the degree next under that of their grandfathers. Sir Charles Young says that "by decision (Chap. Coll. Arms of 1680) if the eldest son of an Earl died in his father's lifetime leaving a son and heir, such son and heir during the life of the Earl his grandfather is entitled to the same place and precedence as was due to his father : so had the father been summoned to Parliament as the eldest son of a peer the grandson would succeed to the dignity even during the grandfather's lifetime " (Order of Precedence, p. 27). And, of course, what applies to the grandson and heir of an earl applies equally to the grandsons and heirs of dukes and marquesses. But the grandsons and heirs of viscounts and barons are differently situated, and have neither honorary additions to their names nor any ascertained place and precedence even by the etiquette of society.
2 Companions are members of the third class of the first three orders and the only members of the fourth order, except the sovereign and the grand master. Sir Charles Young and Sir Bernard Burke concur in placing the companions of these orders before the eldest sons of the younger sons of peers, on the ground that under their statutes they are entitled to precede "all Esquires of the Realm." But the sons of peers themselves—the eldest as well as the younger —are merely esquires, and are ranked before, and not among, other esquires because they have a particular precedence of their own assigned to them. Similarly the eldest sons of the younger sons of peers and the eldest sons of baronets and of knights who are also esquires, and likewise the younger sons of baronets and of knights who are not esquires, have a particular precedence of their own assigned to them. All of them are placed before esquires as a specific grade in the scale of general precedence, and it seems clear enough that it is before esquires considered as a specific grade that the companions of the orders ought to be placed and not before any other persons who, whether they are or are not esquires, have a definite and settled rank which is superior to that specific grade in the scale of general precedence.
3 It appears to be admitted on all hands that the following persons are esquires and ought to be so described in all legal documents and processes : first, the eldest sons of peers in the lifetime of their fathers, and the younger sons of peers both in and after the lifetime of their fathers ; secondly, the eldest sons of the younger sons of peers and their eldest sons in perpetual succession, and the eldest sons of baronets and knights; thirdly, esquires created with or without the grant of armorial bearings by the sovereign; fourthly, justices of the peace, barristers at law, and mayors of corporations ; and fifthly, those who are styled esquires in patents, commissions, or appointments to offices under the crown in the state, the household, the army or navy, and elsewhere. Sir Bernard Burke accords precedence to Serjeants at law and masters in lunacy, not only before esquires as such but also before the companions of the orders of knighthood. It is, however, enough to observe with regard to the first, since no more of them are to be created, that, in spite of the extravagant pretensions which have been frequently urged by them and on their behalf, " they have not in the general scale," as Sir Charles Young says, " any precedence, and when under the degree of a Knight rank only as Esquires," and with regard to the second that the statute 8 and 9 Vict. c. 100, on which the Ulster king of arms bases their claims, simply provides that they "shall take the same rank and precedence as the masters in ordinary of the High Court of Chancery," who are now extinct, "apparently," to recur to Sir Charles Young, " assuming the rank of the masters without defining it." "The masters, however," he adds, "as such have not a settled place in the order of general precedency emanating from any authority by statute or otherwise" (Order of Precedence, p. 71). Sir William Blaekstone says that before esquires "the Heralds rank all Colonels, Serjeants at Law, and Doctors in the three learned professions" (Commentaries, i. c. 12). But the. only foundation for this statement seems to be a passage in Guillim, which is obviously without any authority.
4 The heralds and lawyers are agreed that gentlemen are those who, by inheritance or grant from the crown, are entitled to bear coat armour (see Coke, Inst, iv., c. 77; Blaekstone, Comm., i. eh. 12; Selden, Titles of Honor, pt. ii. ch. 8 ; Guillim, Display of Hercddry, pt. ii. ch. 26).
2.—General Precedence of Women.
The queen;6 (1) princess of Wales; (2) daughters of the sovereign ; (3) wives of the sovereign's younger sons; (4) granddaughters of the sovereign; (5) wives of the sovereign's grandsons; (6) sisters of the sovereign ; (7) wives of the sovereign's brothers; (8) aunts of the sove-reign ; (9) wives of the sovereign's uncles; (10) nieces of the sovereign; (11) wives of the sovereign's nephews;6 (12) duchesses;7 (13) marchionesses; (14) wives of the eldest sons of dukes; (15) dukes' daughters;8 (16) countesses; (17) wives of the eldest sons of marquesses; (18) marquesses' daughters; (19) wives of the younger sons of dukes; (20) viscountesses ; (21) wives of the eldest sons of earls; (22) earls' daughters; (23) wives of the younger sons of marquesses; (24) baronesses ; (25) wives of the eldest sons of viscounts ; (26) viscounts' daughters; (27) wives of the younger sons of earls; (28) wives of the eldest sons of barons ; (29) barons' daughters ; (30) maids of honour to the queen;9 (31) wives of knights of the Garter; (32) wives of knights bannerets made by the sovereign in person; (33) wives of the younger sons of viscounts ; (34) wives of the younger sons of barons; (35) baronets' wives; (36) wives of knights bannerets not made by the sovereign in person ; (37) wives of knights grand crosses of the Bath, grand commanders of the Star of India, and grand crosses of St Michael and St George; (38) wives of knights commanders of the Bath, the Star of India, and St Michael and St George; (39) knights bachelors' wives; (40) wives of the eldest sons of the younger sons of peers;
daughters of the younger sons of peers; (42) wives of the eldest sons of baronets ; (43) baronets' daughters ; (44) wives of the eldest sons of knights; (45) knights' daughters; (46) wives of the younger sons of baronets; (47) wives of the younger sons of knights;10 (48) wives of companions of the Bath, the Star of India, St Michael and St George, and the Indian Empire; (49) wives of esquires ; (50) gentlewomen
Attention to the foregoing tables will show that general precedence is of different kinds as well as of several degrees. It is first either personal or official, and secondly either substantive or derivative. Personal precedence belongs to the royal family, the peerage, and certain specified classes of the commonalty. Official precedence belongs to such of the dignitaries of the church and such of the ministers of state and the household as have had rank and place accorded to them by parliament or the crown, to the speaker of the House of Commons, and to the members of the privy council and the judicature. Substantive pre-cedence, which may be either personal or official, belongs to all those whose rank and place are enjoyed by them independently of their connexion with anybody else, as by the archbishop of Canterbury, the lord high chancellor or the lord great chamberlain, peers and peeresses, baronets, knights, and some esquires. Derivative precedence, which can only be personal, belongs to all those whose rank and place are determined by their consanguinity with or affinity to somebody else, as the lineal and collateral relations of the sovereign, the sons, daughters, and daughters-in-law of peers and peeresses in their own right, and the wives, sons, daughters, and daughters-in-law of baronets, knights, and some esquires. It is to be observed, however, that the precedence of the sovereign is at once official and personal, and that the precedence of peeresses by marriage is at once derivative and substantive. In the case of the sovereign it is his or her actual tenure of the office of king or queen which regulates the rank and place of the various members of the royal family, and in the case of peeresses by marriage, although their rank and place are derivative in origin, yet they are substantive in continuance, since during coverture and widowhood peeresses by marriage are as much peeresses as peeresses in their own right, and their legal and political status is precisely the same as if they had acquired it by creation or inheritance.
Bearing the above definitions and explanations in mind, the following canons or rules may be found practically useful.
1. Anybody who is entitled to both personal and official preced-ence is to be placed according to that which implies the higher rank. If, for example, a baron and a baronet are both privy coun-cillors, the precedence of the first is that of a baron and the precedence of the second is that of a privy councillor. And similarly, except as hereafter stated, with respect to the holders of two or more personal or two or more official dignities.
2. Save in the case of the sovereign, official rank can never supply the foundation for derivative rank. Hence the official precedence of a husband or father affords no indication of the personal precedence of his wife or children. The wives and children, for example, of the archbishop of Canterbury, the lord high chancellor, or the speaker of the House of Commons do not participate in their official rank but only in their personal rank whatever it may be.
3. Among subjects men alone can convey derivative rank, except in the case of the daughters and sisters of the sovereign, or of peeresses in their own right. But no man can acquire any rank or place by marriage. The sons-in-law or brothers-in-law of the sovereign and the husbands of peeresses in their own right have as such no precedence whatever. And the daughter and heiress of the premier duke of England, unless she happens to be also a peeress in her own right, does not transmit any rank or place to her children.
4. Within the limits of the peerage derivative rank is as a rule always merged in personal, as distinguished from official, substantive rank. If, for example, the younger son of a duke is created a baron or inherits a barony, his precedence ceases to be that of a duke's younger son and becomes that of a baron. But, where the eldest son of a duke, a marquess, or an earl is summoned to the House of Lords in a barony of his father's, or succeeds as or is created a baron, he is still, as before, " commonly called " by some superior title of peerage, as marquess, earl, or viscount, and retains his derivative precedence on all occasions, except in parliament or at ceremonies which he attends in his character as a peer. The younger sons of all peers, however, who are created or who inherit peerages—which they often do under special limitations—are every-where placed according to their substantive rank, no matter how inferior it may be to their derivative rank. But if the son of a duke or a marquess, whether eldest or younger, or the eldest son of an earl is consecrated a bishop his derivative rank is not merged in his substantive rank, because it is official, and his derivative and personal rank implies the higher precedence. Again, the (laughters of dukes, marquesses, and earls who become peeresses by marriage or creation, or who inherit as peeresses, are placed according to their substantive and not according to their derivative rank, although they may thereby be assigned a far lower precedence than that to which their birth entitles them.
5. The widows of peers and baronets have precedence immedi-ately before the wives or widows of the next successors in their husbands' dignities. . But the sons and daughters of peers and baronets have precedence immediately before the sons and daughters of the holders of the dignities to whom their fathers succeeded. The reason of this is that the first are senior in the dignities and the second are nearer in the line of succession to them.
6. The widows of peers who marry again either share the pre-cedence of their second husbands oi resume the precedence belong-ing to them independently of their marriage with their first husbands. Thus, if the daughter of a duke or an esquire marries first an earl and secondly a baron, although she remains a peeress, she is placed as a baroness instead of a countess. But if either of them should marry a commoner as her second husband, whatever may be his rank or degree, she ceases to be a peeress. While, however, the duke's daughter, if her second husband were not the eldest son of a duke, would resume her precedence as the daughter of a duke, the esquire's daughter would share the precedence of her second husband, whether he were a peer's son, a baronet, a knight, or an esquire. By the etiquette of society, however, the widows of peers who marry again do not forfeit the titles and precedence acquired by their marriage with their first husbands unless they choose to lay them aside, or unless their own rank or the rank of their second husbands is equal or superior to that of their first husbands.
7. The widows of the eldest and younger sons of dukes and marquesses and of the eldest sons of earls, and also the widows of baronets and knights who marry again, are permitted by the eti-quette of society to keep the titles and rank acquired by their first marriage if their second marriage is with a commoner whose pre-cedence is considerably lower. But the widows of the younger sons of earls and of the eldest and younger sons of viscounts and barons, although their precedence is higher than that of the widows of baronets and knights, are not allowed to retain it, under any circumstances, after a second marriage.
8. Marriage does not affect the precedence of peeresses in their own right unless their husbands are peers whose peerages are of a higher degree, or, being of the same degree, are of more ancient creation than their own. If, for example, a baroness in her own right marries a viscount she is placed and described as a viscountess, or if she marries a baron whose barony is older than hers she is placed in his precedence and described by his title. But if she marries a baron whose barony is junior to hers she keeps her own precedence and title.
9. The daughters of peers, of sons of peers, baronets, and knights retain after marriage the precedence they derive from their fathers, unless they marry peers of any rank or commoners of higher rank than their own. Hence, for example, the daughter of a duke who marries the eldest son of a marquess is placed as a duke's daughter, not as the wife of a marquess's eldest son, and the daughter of a baronet who marries the younger son of a knight is placed as a baronet's daughter and not as the wife of a knight's younger son.
10. What are termed " titles of courtesy " are borne by all the sons and daughters of peers and peeresses in their own right, who in this connexion stand on exactly the same footing. The eldest sons of dukes, marquesses, and earls are designated by the names of one or other of the inferior peerages of their fathers, usually a mar- quessate or an earldom in the first, an earldom or a viscounty in the second, and a viscounty or barony in the third case. But, whatever it may be, it is altogether without effect on the rank and place of the bearer, which are those belonging to him as the eldest son of his father. The younger sons of dukes and marquesses are styled "lords" followed by both their Christian names and surnames. The younger sons of earls and both the eldest and the younger sons of viscounts and barons are described as "honourable" before both their Christian names and surnames. The daughters of dukes, marquesses, and earls are styled "ladies" before both their Christian names and surnames. The daughters of viscounts and barons are described as "honourable" before both their Christ- ian names and surnames. If the eldest son of a marquess or an earl marries a woman of rank equal or inferior to his own, she takes his title and precedence; but if she is of superior rank she retains, with her own precedence, the prefix "lady" before her Christian name followed by the name of her husband's title of courtesy. Again, if the younger son of a duke or a marquess marries a woman of rank equal or inferior to his own, she is called "lady," with his Christian and surname following, and is placed in his precedence ; but, if she is of superior rank, she retains, with her own precedence, the prefix '' lady " before her Christian name and his surname. If the daughter of a duke, a marquess, or an earl marries the younger son of an earl, the eldest or younger son of a viscount or baron, a baronet, a knight, or an esquire, &c, she retains, with her own precedence, the prefix "lady" before her Christian name and her husband's surname. If the daughter of a viscount marries the younger son of an earl or anybody of inferior rank to him, or the daughter of a baron marries the younger son of a "viscount or anybody of inferior rank to him, she retains her own precedence with the prefix "honourable" before the addition "Mrs" and his surname or Christian name and surname. But, if her hus-band is a baronet or a knight, she is called the Honourable Lady Smith or the Honourable Lady Jones, as the case may be. The wives of the younger sons of earls and of the eldest and younger sons of viscounts and barons, if they are of inferior rank to their husbands, take their precedence and are described as the Honourable Mrs, with the surnames or Christian names and surnames of their husbands following. It was because the judges were placed by James I. before the younger sons of viscounts and barons that they were accorded the title of "honourable," and that they are designated as the Honourable Mr Justice Hawkins or the Honour-able Mr Justice Stephen, instead of as Sir Henry Hawkins or Sir James Stephen, which would connote their inferior personal dignity of knighthood. But in this addition their wives do not participate, since it is merely an official distinction.
It is manifest on even a cursory examination of the tables we have given that, although they embody the only scheme of general precedence, whether for men or for women, which is authoritatively sanctioned or recognized, they are in many respects very imperfectly fitted to meet the circumstances and requirements of the present day. In both of them the limits prescribed to the royal family are pedantically and inconveniently narrow, and stand out in striking contrast to the wide and ample bounds through which the operation of the Royal Marriage Act (12 Geo. III. c. 11) extends the disabilities but not the privileges of the sovereign's kindred. Otherwise the scale of general precedence for women compares favourably enough with the scale of general precedence for men. If, indeed, it includes the queen's maids of honour and the wives of the conrpanions of the knightly orders, there certainly does not seem to be any good reason why it should omit the mistress of the robes and the ladies of the bedchamber, or the ladies of the royal order of Victoria and Albert and the imperial order of the Crown of India. But these are trifling matters in themselves, and concern only an extremely minute fraction of the community. The scale of general precedence for men is now in substantially the same condition as that in which it has been for be-tween two and three centuries, and the political, to say nothing of the social, arrangements to which it was framed to apply have in the interval undergone an almost com-plete transformation. The consequence is that a good deal of it has come down to us in the shape of a survival, and has ceased to be of any practical use for the purpose it was originally designed to effect. While it comprises several official and personal dignities which are virtually obsolete and extinguished, it entirely omits the great majority of the members of Government in its existing form, and whole sections of society on a less exalted level, to whom it is universally felt that some rank and place at all events are both in public and in private justly due.
As we have already said, it accords no precedence whatever to the prime minister, whether as premier or as first lord of the treasury. In the same way it ignores not only the first lord of the admiralty but also the presidents of the Board of Trade and the Local Government Board, the post-master-general, the vice-president of the council, and all the law officers of the crown. And, when it does confess the presence of any of the sovereign's principal ministers, it commonly places them in positions which are out of all keeping with their actual eminence and importance. It ranks the lord president of the council and the lord privy seal before dukes, while it places the chancellor of the exchequer after the younger sons of earls and the eldest sons of barons, and the secretaries of state after the master of the horse and the vice-chamberlain of the household. The lord chancellor still has precedence as the first of the great officers of state, which was allotted to him not as what he is, the head of the judicature, but as what he once was, the prime minister of the sovereign ; and the lord chief justice, who is next to him in regular judicial rank, as presiding over the Common Law Courts, as he presides over the Courts of Equity, is placed after the chancellors of the exchequer and of the duchy of Lancaster, who still have the precedence which was allotted to them not as ministers, which they are, but as judges, which they are no longer. Neither the lord lieutenant of Ireland, the viceroy of India, nor the governor-general of Canada has any rank or place at St James's, where, as well as at Westminster, the lord steward or the lord chamberlain of the household is a much greater and more splendid personage. Again,' in the scale of general precedence there are no clergymen except bishops,, no lawyers except judges, and no officers of either the army or the navy from field-marshals and admirals of the fleet downwards. Nor, of course, are any colonial governors or lieutenant-governors entered on it. It contains no mention of under-secretaries of state, chairmen or commissioners of administrative boards, comptrollers or secretaries of Govern-ment departments, lord lieutenants or sheriffs of counties, deputy lieutenants or justices of the peace, members of the House of Commons, or graduates of the universities. It is true that among some of these classes definite systems of subordination are established by either authority or usage, which are carefully observed and enforced in the particular areas and spheres to which they have reference. But we have seldom any means of determining the relative value of a given term in one series as compared with a given term in another series, or of connecting the different steps in the scales of local, professional, or academical pre-cedence with the different steps in the scale of general precedence, to which such scales of special precedence ought to be contributory and supplementary. We know, for example, that major-generals and rear-admirals are of equal rank, that with them are placed commissaries-general and inspectors-general of hospitals and fleets, that in India along with civilians of thirty-one years' standing they immediately follow the vice-chancellors of the Indian uni-versities, and that in relation to the consular service they immediately precede agents-general and consuls-general. But there is nothing to aid us in determining whether in England they should be ranked with, before, or after deans, queen's counsel, or doctors in divinity, who are as destitute as they are themselves of any recognized general precedence, and who, as matters now stand, would certainly have to give place to the younger sons of baronets and knights and the companions of the knightly orders.
The subjoined tables of special precedence, although their authority would not always be admitted in the Col-
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has in such cases become established. This applies, for instance, to the places of the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber, Law Officers of the Crown, and Masters and Six Clerks in Chancery, who have no definite or fixed place in the tables of precedency regulating the general orders of society, though in reference to State ceremonials they have certain places assigned in the order of procession in right of their offices, which, however, give them no general rank. Upon such occasions, nevertheless, the legal rank and precedence which they hold in the Courts of Law is observed, and so far establishes among themselves, and in respect to their several classes, their precedency " (Sir Charles Young, Order of Precedence, &c, pp. 59-61).
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lege of Arms, may perhaps assist towards the solution of some of the problems which occasionally arise in ordinary society.
1. Ecclesiastical Precedence.—(1) Archbishop of Canterbury; (2) archbishop
of York; (3) archbishop of Armagh ; (4) archbishop of Dublin ; (5) bishop of
London; (6) bishop of Durham; (7) bishop of Winchester; (8) other bishops
of England ; (9) bishop of Meath ; (10) other bishops of Ireland ; (11) suffragan
bishops of England ; (12) bishop of Sodor and Man ; (13) bishops of Scotland ;
(14) colonial bishops; (15) deans of cathedrals ; (16) archdeacons; (17) canons ;
(18) rural deans ; (19) rectors; (20) vicars ; (21) curates.
2. Legal Precedence.—(1) Lord chancellor of Great Britain ; (2) lord chancellor of Ireland ; (3) lords of appeal in ordinary in the House of Lords ; (4) members of the judicial committee of the privy council; (5) lord chief justice of England ; (6) lord justice-general and president of the Court of Session of Scotland; (7) lord chief justice of Ireland; (8) master of the rolls in England; (9) lord justice-clerk and president of the second division of the Court of Session of Scotland ; (10) master of the rolls in Ireland ; (11) lords justices of appeal in England; (12) lords chief justice of the Common Pleas, chief baron of the Exchequer, and justices of appeal in Ireland ; (13) vice-chancellor in England ; (14) vice-chancellor in Ireland; (15) judges of the High Court of Justice in England; (16) senators of the College of Justice in Scotland; (17) judges of the High Court of Justice in Ireland ; (18) attorney-general for England ; (19) lord advocate of Scotland; (20) attorney-general for Ireland ; (21) solicitor-general for England ; (22) solicitor-general for Scotland; (23) solicitor-general for Ireland ; (24) queen's counsel; (25) serjeants-at-law; (26) masters in lunacy; (27) recorder of London ; (28) treasurers of the Inns of Court ; (29) dean of the faculty in Scotland; (30) barristers; (31) advocates; (32) president of the Incor-porated Law Society ; (33) solicitors ; (34) writers to the signet; (35) writers.
3. Military Precedence.—(1) Field - marshals ; (2) generals; (3) lieutenant-generals ; (4) major-generals, inspectors-general of hospitals after three years' service or with an army in the field, and commissaries-general; (5) brigadier-generals, deputy paymasters-general, and inspectors-general of hospitals of under three years' service and not with an army in the field; (6) colonels, deputy judge advocate, and deputy inspectors-general of hospitals after five years' service ; (7) lieutenant-colonels, deputy commissaries-general after five years' service, deputy inspectors-general of hospitals, and surgeon-majors; (8) majors, deputy commissaries-general under five years' service, assistant com-missaries-general, inspectors of army accounts, staff or regimental surgeons, chaplains attached to brigades, deputy judge advocates if not at the head of their department, storekeepers of the ordnance, and barrack masters of the first and second classes; (9) captains, deputy assistant commissaries-general, assistant deputy paymasters-general, regimental paymasters, principal examiner of military accounts, staff or regimental assistant surgeons after ten years' service, veterinary surgeons after twenty years' service, chaplains attached to regiments, deputy storekeepers of the ordnance, and barrack masters of the third and fourth classes; 1 (10) lieutenants, acting deputy assistant com-missaries-general, examiners of military accounts, assistant surgeons, apothe-caries of less than fifteen years' service, deputy medical purveyors, and veterinary surgeons after ten years' service; (11) second lieutenants, com-missariat clerks, clerks in the paymaster-general's and military accounts departments, medical and ordnance clerks, and veterinary surgeons under ten years' service ; (12) superintending schoolmasters.
4. Naval Precedence.—(I) Admirals of the fleet; (2) admirals ; (3) vice-admirals; (4) rear-admirals and inspectors-general of hospitals and fleets ; (5) commodores ; (6) captains of over three years' seniority, deputy inspectors-general of hospitals and fleets, secretaries to admirals of the fleet, paymaster-in-chief, chief inspec- tors of machinery, and inspectors of machinery of eight years' standing; (7) captains of under three years' seniority ; (8) staff captains, secretaries to com- manders-in-chief of five years' standing, and inspectors of machinery of under eight years' standing; (9) commanders ; (10) staff commanders, fleet surgeons, secretaries to commanders-in-chief of under five years' standing, paymasters of fifteen years', chief engineers of ten, and naval instructors of fifteen years' standing; (11) lieutenants of eight years' seniority; (12) navigating lieutenants of eight years' seniority, staff surgeons, secretaries to junior flag officers, pay- masters of eight, naval instructors of eight, and chief engineers of under ten years' standing ; (13) lieutenants of under eight years' seniority; (14) navigating lieutenants of under eight years' seniority, surgeons, secretaries to commodores of the second class, paymasters and naval instructors of under eight and assistant paymasters and engineers of over eight years' standing ; (15) sub-lieu- tenants ; (16) navigating sub-lieutenants, assistant paymasters and engineers of under eight years' standing, chief carpenters, and assistant engineers ; (17) chief gunners and chief boatswains ; (18) gunners, boatswains, and carpenters ; (19) midshipmen and clerks ; (20) naval cadets and assistant clerks. 5. Relative Military and Naval Precedence.—(1) Field-marshals with admirals of the fleet; (2) generals with admirals; (3) lieutenant-generals with vice- admirals ; (4) major-generals with rear-admirals; (5) brigadier-generals with commodores ; (6) colonels with captains of over three years' seniority ; (7) lieu- tenant-colonels with captains of under three years' seniority and staff captains, and before commanders and staff commanders ; (8) majors with lieutenants and navigating lieutenants of eight years' seniority; (9) captains with lieutenants and navigating lieutenants of under eight years' seniority ; (10) lieutenants with sub-lieutenants and navigating sub-lieutenants; (11) second lieutenants with midshipmen. 6. Diplomatic and Consular Precedence.—(1) Ambassadors immediately after the royal family and the sons and brothers of sovereigns, and before arch- bishops, great officers of state, and dukes ; (2) envoys and ministers accredited to the sovereign after dukes and before marquesses ; (3) charges d'affaires who are accredited, not to the sovereign, but to the minister of foreign affairs, have no recognized general precedence ; (4) military or naval attaches of higher rank than colonel in the army or captain in the navy, next to the head of the mission ; (5) agents-general and consuls-general with but after major-generals, and rear- admirals ; (6) consuls-general with but after brigadier-generals and commo- dores ; (7) secretaries of embassy ; (8) secretaries of legation ; (9) military or naval attaches of or under the rank of colonel in the army or captain in the navy, n_xt to the secretary of embassy or legation ; (10) consuls with but after colonels in the army and captains in the navy ; (11) second secretaries of em- bassy ; (12) second secretaries of legation; (13) vice-consuls with but after majors in the army and lieutenants in the navy of eight years' seniority; (14) third secretaries of embassy; (15) third secretaries of legation ; (16) consular agents with but after captains in the army and lieutenants in the navy of under eight years' seniority; (17) attaches. 7. Colonial Precedence generally.—(V) The governor or lieutenant-governor or officer administering the government; (2) general in command of the troops and admiral in command of the naval forces; (3) the bishop; (4) the chief justice; (5) colonel or lieutenant-colonel in command of the troops and the officer of equivalent rank in command of the naval forces ; (6) members of the executive council; (7) president of the legislative council; (8) members of the legislative council; (9) speaker of the house of assembly; (10) puisne judges ; (11) members of the house of assembly; (12) colonial secretary not being in the executive council; (13) commissioners or Government agents of provinces or districts ; (14) attorney-general; (15) solicitor-general; (16) major or other senior officer in command of thetroops and the officer of equivalent rank in command of the naval forces ; (17/the archdeacon ; (18) treasurer, pay-master-general, or collector of internal revenue ; (19) auditor-general or inspector of general accounts; (20) commissioner of crown lands; (21) collector of customs ; (22) comptroller of customs ; (23) surveyor-general; (24) clerk of the executive council; (25) clerk of the legislative council; (26) clerk of the house of assembly.
8. Precedence in tlie Dominion of Canada.—(1) The governor-general or officer administering the government; (2) general commanding the troops and admiral commanding the naval forces; (3) lieutenant-governor of Ontario; (4) lieutenant-governor of Quebec ; (5) lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia; (6) lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick; (7) archbishops and bishops; (8) members of the cabinet; (9) speaker of the Senate; (10) chief judges of the courts of law and equity; (11) members of the privy council; (12) generals and admirals not in chief command ; (13) colonel in command of the troops and naval officer of equivalent rank in command of the naval forces ; (14) members of the Senate; (15) speaker of the House of Commons ; (16) puisne judges; (17) members of the House of Commons ; (18) members of provincial executive councils within their province ; (19) speaker of legislative councils within his province; (20) members of legislative councils within their province; (21) speaker of legislative assemblies within his province; (22) members of legis-lative assemblies within their province.
9. Precedence in the Indian Empire.—(I) Governor-general and viceroy of India ; (2) governors of Madras and Bombay; (3) president of the council of the governor-general; (4) lieutenant-governors of Bengal, the North-West Provinces, and the Punjab when in their own territories ; (5) commander-in-chief in India ; (6) lieutenant-governors of Bengal, the North-West Provinces, and the Punjab ; (7) chief justice of Bengal; (8) bishop of Calcutta, metropolitan of India; (9) ordinary members of the council of the governor-general; (10) commanders-in-chief in Madras and Bombay ; (11) commander-in-chief of the naval forces un-less senior in relative rank to the above ; (12) chief justices of Madras, Bombay, and the North-West Provinces ; (13) bishops of Madras and Bombay; (14) ordi-nary members of council in Madras and Bombay; (15) chief commissioners and resident at Hyderabad, and agents to the governor-general in Rajputana, Cen-tral India, and Baroda; (16) puisne judges of the High Courts of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, and the North-West Provinces ; (17) military officers above major-generals ; (18)additionalmembersofthe councils of the governor-general; (19) secretaries to the Government of India; (20) commissioner in Sind ; (21) judges of the Chief Court in the Punjab ; (22) additional members of the councils of the governors of Madras and Bombay ; (23) chief secretaries to the Govern-ments of Madras and Bombay ; (24) members of the legislative council of the lieutenant-governor of Bengal; (25) vice-chancellors of Indian universities. First class: (26) civilians of thirty-one years' standing and major-generals; (27) advocate-general, Calcutta; (28) advocates-general, Madras and Bombay ; (29) members of the boards of revenue, Bengal, Madras, and the North-West Provinces, and commissioners of revenue and customs, Bombay ; (30) financial commissioner, Punjab ; (31) judicial commissioners and recorder of Rangoon ; (32) comptroller-general of accounts in India ; (33) commissioners of divisions within their own divisions, and residents, political agents, and superintendents, on pay of Rs.2000 per mensem or more (not being collectors or deputy com-missioners of British districts), within their own charges; (34) civil and military secretaries to Governments of Madras and Bombay, and civil secretaries to Governments of Bengal, North-West Provinces, and Punjab; (35) surveyor-general of India, and directors-general of the post-office and of telegraphs ; (36) chief engineers, first class ; (37) archdeacons of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay ; (38) brigadier-generals. Second class: (39) civilians of twenty-three years' standing and colonels ; (40) commissioners of divisions, and commissioners of police, Calcutta ; (41) private secretary to the viceroy ; (42) residents, political agents, and superintendents on pay of Rs.2000 per mensem or more (not being collectors or deputy commissioners of British districts); (43) superintendent of the trigonometrical survey ; (44) commissioner of inland customs ; (45) sani-tary commissioner of the Government of India; (46) superintendent of the Geological Survey; (47) inspector - general of forests in India; (48) standing council to the Government of India; (49) military accountant-general; (50) directors of public instruction under local governments ; (51) accountant-general for local governments ; (52) inspectors-general of police under local govern-ments ; (53) director of revenue settlement and superintendent of revenue survey, Madras, survey and settlement commissioners, Bombay, and com-missioner of settlements, Punjab; (54) remembrancers of legal affairs and Government advocates in the North-West Provinces, the Punjab, and British Burmah; (55) consulting engineers to the Government of India for guaranteed railways, Calcutta and Lahore, and chief engineers (second and third classes) under local governments ; (56) district and sessions judges, col-lectors and magistrates of districts, deputy'superintendent of Port Blair, and the chief officer of each presidency municipality, within their respective charges; (57) officers of the first class graded list of civil offices not reserved for members of the Covenanted Civil Service. Third class : (58) civilians of eighteen years standing and lieutenant - colonels; (59) political agents and superintendents on pay of Rs.1000 and less than Rs.2000 per mensem (not being collectors or deputy commissioners in British districts) within their own charges; (60) military secretary to the Government, Punjab, and civil secretaries to local administrations ; (61) private secretaries to governors ; (62) directors of public instruction under local administrations ; (63) administrators-general, Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay; (64) inspectors-general of jails and of registration, sanitary commissioners, inspectors, and conservators of forests under local governments, and postmasters-general; (65) accountants-general for local administrations; (66) consulting engineer to the Government of India for guaranteed railways, Lucknow, and chief and superintending engineers wheD secretaries to local administrations or to agents to the governor-general; (67) inspectors-general of police under local administrations ; (68) senior chaplains (69) superintendent of marine, Bombay ; (70) master attendants ; (71) sheriffs within their own charges ; (72) officers in the second class graded list of civil offices not reserved for members of the Covenanted Civil Service. Fourth class: (73) civilians of twelve years' standing and majors; (74) political agents and superintendents of less than Rs.1000 per mensem within their own charges ; (75) Government solicitors; (76) inspectors-general of jails and of registration, sanitary commissioners, and conservators of forests under local administrations; (77) officers in the third class graded list of civil offices not reserved for members of the Covenanted Civil Service.
10. Academical Precedence.—(1) Chancellors; (2) high stewards ; (3) vice- chancellors ; (4) rectors; (5) principals ; (6) heads of colleges and halls; (7) doctors of divinity ; (8) doctors of law ; (9) doctors of medicine ; (10) doctors of music; (11) bachelors of divinity; (12) proctors ; (13) professors; (14) masters of law ; (15) masters of arts ; (16) bachelors of law ; (17) bachelors of medicine; (18) bachelors of music; (19) bachelors of arts. Offices in the universities are more or less different in each of them, and those which are peculiar to any one vary so much from those which are peculiar to the others that it is not convenient to enumerate and distinguish them. Among graduates of all of them the senior take precedence of the junior according to their several faculties and degrees and the relative antiquity of their universities in the order of Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dublin, London, Durham, Queen's, Sydney, Melbourne, Catholic, Royal, and Victoria. (F. DR.)
Footnotes
4 Patent Rolls, 14th Jac., part. ii. mem. 24 ; Selden, Titles of Honor, part ii. p. 752.
5 Cited by Sir Charles Young, Order of Precedence, with Authorities and Remarks, p. 27 (London, 1851).
The above article was written by: F. Drummond.