Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/689

Rh PRECEDENCE 665 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 pre cedence 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 preced ence 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 sistei s of the sovereign, or of peer esses 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 sou 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 Ids father s, or succeeds as or is created a baron, he is still, as before, &quot; commonly called &quot; 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 or 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 aot allowed to &quot;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 &quot;titles of courtesy&quot; 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 &quot;lords&quot; 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 &quot;honourable&quot; before both their Christian names and surnames. The daughters of dukes, marquesses, and earls are styled &quot;ladies&quot; before both their Christian names and surnames. The daughters of viscounts and barons are described as &quot;honourable&quot; 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 &quot;lady&quot; 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 &quot;lady,&quot; 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 &quot;lady&quot; before her Christian name and his surname. If the daughter of a duke, a marquess, or an earl XIX. 84