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 112 Fountain of Honours, <§'C. [Ch. VIII. and therefore it is no degradation (a). The contrary has, however, been asserted (b); and on principle the hitter opinion seems correct, for though the nobility are, generally speaking, pares, yet there are doubtless different gradations of rank among them; nor does there seem any reason why the de- gradation to the husband's degree should not take place : and Mr. Cruise observes {c), that at the coronation of his present Majesty, the Duchess Dowager of Leeds, then the wife of Lord Portmore, claimed to walk as a Duchess, but it was refused. The King may legally grant to a Scotch Peer a patent of peerage of Great Britain, with all the privileges incident thereto, which was determined by the House of Lords after the unanimous opinion of the Judges to the same effect, in the case of the Duke of Hamilton, who claimed to sit and was accordingly held entitled to sit, as Duke of Brandon [d). On the other hand, an English Peer may take a Scotch peer- age by descent {e). By the common law, his Majesty might give any nobleman precedence and place in public assemblies, even before others who enjoyed a more antient dignity of the same or a higher degree of nobility (y); but this latter prerogative is restrained {g) by the statute 31 Hen. 8. c. 10. and 1 W. & M. sess. 1. c. 21. which settle the place and precedence of all the nobility and great officers of state {h). The seventh section of the 31 Hen. 8. enacts, " that all Dukes not aforementioned, Mar- quesses, Earls, Viscounts, and Barons, not having any of the offices therein mentioned, shall sit and be placed after their antienty, as hath been accustomed." As however this statute does not extend to Ireland (?), the King still retains this prerogative in that country, without any legal restrictions, except it be by virtue of the 4th article of the 39 and 40 G. 3. c. 67. the Irish Act of Union, which enacts " that as often as three of the Peerages of Ireland, existing at the time of the («) Year Books, 22 Hen. 6, 52. Co. (/) 4 Inst. 361, 363. Recital, 31 lit. 16, b. 1 Bla. Com. 401, 2. Hen. 8. c. 10. (6) Owen, 82. Bendl. 37, cited Co. (g) 1 Ld. Raym. 16. Lit. 16, b. note 6. {/t) As to precedence in general, 4 (c) 3 Vol. Dig. 220. Inst. 361. Prynn. on 4 Inst. 323. Co. Id) 1 Bla. Com. 97, note. Christian's Lit. 16, note 4. 1 Bla. Com. 405, Table ed. See Lords' Journ. of Precedence. (*) Ibid. Bla. Com. (t) See ante, ch. 3. Union,