LORD

In English law. A title of honor or nobility belonging properly to the degree of baron, but applied also to the whole peerage, as In the expression “the house of lords.” 1 Bl. Comm. 396 400. A title of office, as lord mayor, lord commissioner, etc. In feudal law. A feudal superior or proprietor ; one of whom a fee or estate Is held. Law lords. See Law. Lord advocate. The chief public prosecutor of Scotland. 2 Alis. Grim. Pr. 84. Lord and vassal. In the feudal system, the grantor, who retained the dominion or ultimate property, was called the “lord,” and the grantee, who had only the use or possession, was called the “vassal” or “feudatory.”Lord chief baron. The chief judge of the English court of exchequer, prior to the judicature acts. Lord chief justice. See Justice. Lord high, chancellor. See Chancellor. Lord high steward. In England, when a person is impeached, or when a peer is tried on indictment for treason or felony before the house of lords, one of the lords is appointed lord high steward, and acts as speaker pro tempore. Sweet. Lord high treasurer. An officer formerly existing in England, who had the charge of the royal revenues and customs duties, and of leasing the crown lands. His functions are now vested in the lords commissioners of the treasury. Mozley & Whitley. Lord in gross. In feudal law. He who is lord, not by reason of any manor, but as the king in respect of his crown, etc. “Very lord” is he who is immediate lord to his tenant; and “very tenant,” he who holds immediately of that lord. So that, where there is lord paramount, lord mesne, and tenant, the lord paramount is not very lord to the tenant. Wharton. Lord justice clerk. The second judicial officer in Scotland. Lord keeper, or keeper of the great seal, was originally another name for the lord chancellor. After Henry II.’s reign they were sometimes divided, but now there cannot be a lord chancellor and lord keeper at the same time, for by St. 5 Eliz. c. 18, they are declared to be the same office. Com. Dig. “Chancery,” B. 1. Lord lieutenant. In English law. The viceroy of the crown in Ireland. The principal military officer of a county, originally appointed for the purpose of mustering the inhabitants for the defense of the country. Lord mayor. The chief officer of the corporation of the city of London is so called. The origin of the appellation of “lord,” which the mayor of London enjoys, is attributed to the fourth charter of Edward III., which conferred on that officer the honor of having maces, the same as royal, carried before him by the Serjeants. Pull. Laws & Cust. Lond. Lord mayor’s court. In English law. This is a court of record, of law and equity, and is the chief court of justice within the corporation of London. Theoretically the lord mayor and aldermen are supposed to preside, but the recorder is in fact the acting judge. It has jurisdiction of all personal and mixed actions arising within the city and liberties without regard to the amount in controversy. See 3 Steph. Comm. 449, note I. Lord of a manor. The grantee or owner of a manor. Lord ordinary is the judge of the court of session in Scotland, who officiates for the time being as the judge of first instance. Darl. Pr. Ct. Sess. Lord paramount. A term applied to the King of England as the chief feudal proprietor, the theory of the feudal system being that all lands in the realm were held mediately or immediately from him. See De Peyster v. Michael, 6 N. Y. 495, 57 Am. Dec. 470; Opinion of Justices, 66 N. H. 629, 33 Atl. 1076. Lord privy seal, before the 30 Hen. VIII., was generally an ecclesiastic. The office has since been usually conferred on temporal peers above the degree of barons. He is appointed by letters patent. The lord privy seal, receiving a warrant from the signet office, issues the privy seal, which is an authority to the lord chancellor to pass the great seal where the nature of the grant requires it. But the privy seals for money begin in the treasury, whence the first warrant issues, countersigned by the lord treasurer. The lord privy seal is a member of the cabinet council. Enc. Lond. Lord warden of Cinque Ports. See Cinque Posts. Lords appellants. Five peers who for a time superseded Richard II. in his government, and whom, after a brief control of the government, he in turn superseded in 1397, and put the survivors of them to death. Richard II.’s eighteen commissioners (twelve peers and six commoners) took their place, as an embryo privy council acting with full powers, during the parliamentary recess. Brown Lords commissioners. In English law. When a high public office in the state, formerly executed by an individual, is put into commission, the persons charged with the commission are called “lords commissioners,” or sometimes “lords” or “commissioners” simply. Thus, we have, in lieu of the lord treasurer and lord high admiral of former times, the lords commissioners of the treasury, and the lords commissioners of the admiralty; and, whenever the great seal is put into commission, the persons charged with it are called “commissioners” or “lords commissioners” of the great seal. Mozley & Whitley. Lord’s day. A name sometimes given to Sunday. Co. Litt. 135. Lords justices of appeal. In English law. The title of the ordinary judges of the court of appeal, by Jud. Act 1877,