Page:Margaret Hamilton of Rockhall v Lord Lyon King of Arms.pdf/14

 The practice after Menking, Petitioner

[26] The present defender, Lyon Morrow, was appointed by Letters Patent dated 7 January 2014, following the retirement of Lyon Sellar. The defender considered a petition dated 21 August 2014 from George David Menking. He subsequently issued a note dated 30 April 2015 (reported at 2015 SLT (Lyon Ct) 21 ("Menking")) in respect of his application. (Parenthetically, it should be noted that not every issuance from the Lyon Court is a judicial decision. In his note of argument the pursuer's senior counsel referred to Menking as if it were a judicial decision of the Lyon Court. As the defender's senior counsel helpfully explained, however, the Lyon Court may issue a policy and have it publicised in the law reports. Menking was one such example. At debate the pursuer's counsel departed from this part of his note of argument.)

[27] In Menking the defender observed (at para 8), that "[in] the established recent practice the dignity of barony establishes for its owner jurisdiction to petition the Lord Lyon for a grant of Arms." At paragraphs 29 to 31, the defender also set out his practice in regard to the wording recording his jurisdiction which he would authorise for inclusion in the Letters Patent for a grant of arms in the case of feudal or any other dignities. That text made clear that the wording recognising jurisdiction would not include the words "Baron of [the barony]" or "Baron of [X]". Rather, it would refer to the relevant deed of assignation of the relevant barony, by which the petitioner was brought within the jurisdiction of the Lord Lyon to make a new grant of arms. In relation to the grant of arms, Menking provided first (at paragraph 5), that as long as the present custodian of the Scottish Barony Register was "a person of skill", the defender would accept the custodian's report as evidence that the petitioner is owner of a barony and entitled to the dignity thereof. Second, having