Peerage
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{{Peerage}}
The '''Peerage''' is a system of [[titles]] of [[nobility]] in the [[United Kingdom]], part of the [[British honours system]]. The term is used both collectively to refer to the entire body of titles, and individually to refer to a specific title.
All British honours, including peerage dignities, spring from the [[monarch|Sovereign]], who is considered the [[fount of honour]]. The Sovereign, as "the fountain and source of all dignities cannot hold a dignity from himself" (opinion of the House of Lords in the ''[[Buckhurst Peerage Case]]''), cannot belong to the Peerage. If an individual is neither the Sovereign nor a peer, he or she is a [[commoner]]. Members of a peer's family who are not themselves peers (including such members of the [[Royal Family]]) are also commoners; the British system thus differs fundamentally from continental European ones, where entire families, rather than individuals, were ennobled.
==Divisions of the Peerage==
{{British Peerage}}
The various parts of the Peerage, which convey slightly different benefits, are:
* the [[Peerage of England]] — all titles created by the Kings and Queens of [[England]] before the [[Act of Union 1707|Act of Union]] in [[1707]];
* the [[Peerage of Scotland]] — all titles created by the Kings and Queens of [[Scotland]] before 1707;
* the [[Peerage of Ireland]] — titles created for the [[Kingdom of Ireland]] before the [[Act of Union 1800|Act of Union]] of [[1801]], and some titles created later;
* the [[Peerage of Great Britain]] — titles created for the Kingdom of [[Great Britain]] between 1707 and 1801;
* the [[Peerage of the United Kingdom]] — most titles created since 1801.
==Ranks==
Peers are of five ranks: [[Duke]], [[Marquess]], [[Earl]], [[Viscount]] and [[Baron]] (in descending order of hierarchy). In Scotland, the fifth rank is called a [[Lord of Parliament]], as "Barons" are holders of feudal dignities, not peers. [[Baronet]]s, while holders of hereditary titles, are not peers.
* "Duke" comes from the [[Latin]] ''dux'', leader.
* "Marquess" comes from the French ''marquis'', which is a derivative of ''marche'' or march. This is a reference to the English borders ("[[marches]]") with Wales and Scotland, a relationship more evident in the feminine form: Marchioness.
* "Earl" comes from the [[Old English]] or Anglo-Saxon ''eorl'', a military leader. The meaning may have been affected by the [[Old Norse]] ''jarl'', meaning free-born warrior or nobleman, during the [[Danelaw]], thus giving rise to the modern sense. Since there was no feminine Old English or Old Norse equivalent for the term, "Countess" is used (an Earl is analogous to the [[Continental Europe|Continental]] ''[[count]]''), from the Latin ''comes''.
* "Viscount" comes from the Latin ''vicecomes'', vice-count.
* "Baron" comes from the Old Germanic ''baro'', freeman.
The various titles are in the form of ''(Rank) (Name of Title)'' or ''(Rank) of (Name of Title)''. The name of the title can either be a place name or a surname. The precise usage depends on the rank of the peerage and on certain other general considerations. Dukes always use ''of''. Marquesses and Earls whose titles are based on place names normally use ''of'', while those whose titles are based on surnames normally do not. Viscounts, Barons and Lords of Parliament do not use ''of''. However, there are several exceptions to the rule. For instance, Scottish vicecomital titles theoretically include ''of'', though in practice it is usually dropped. (Thus, the "Viscount of Falkland" is commonly known as the "Viscount Falkland".) ''Of'' is normally not used when the place in question is outside British territory, as using ''of'' might imply that the nation has [[sovereignty]] over such a place. For instance, the title ''Marquess Douro'' is based on the River [[Douro]] in Portugal, over which the British monarch has neither sovereignty nor [[suzerainty]].
A territorial designation is often added to the main peerage title, especially in the case of Barons and Viscounts: for instance, ''[[Margaret Thatcher|Baroness Thatcher]], of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire'' or ''[[Viscount Montgomery of Alamein]], of Hindhead in the County of Surrey''. Any designation after the comma does not form a part of the main title. Territorial designations in titles are not updated with [[local government in the United Kingdom|local government]] reforms, but new creations do take them into account. Thus there is a ''[[Viscount Knollys|Baron Knollys]], of [[Caversham, Berkshire|Caversham]] in the [[Oxfordshire|County of Oxford]]'' (created in 1902), and a ''[[Jill Pitkeathley, Baroness Pitkeathley|Baroness Pitkeathley]], of [[Caversham, Berkshire|Caversham]] in the [[Berkshire|Royal County of Berkshire]]'' (created in 1997).
It was once the case that a peer administered the place associated with his title, but this has not been true since the Middle Ages. The only remaining peerages with associated lands controlled by the holder are the [[Duchy of Cornwall]], which is associated with the [[Duke of Cornwall|Dukedom of Cornwall]], held by the eldest son and heir to the Sovereign, and the [[Duchy of Lancaster]], which is associated with the [[Duke of Lancaster|Dukedom of Lancaster]], held by the Sovereign.
==Hereditary peers==
{{Main|Hereditary peer}}
An hereditary peer is a peer whose dignity may be inherited. Hereditary peerage dignities may be created with writs of summons or by [[letters patent]]; the former method is now obsolete. Writs of summons summon an individual to Parliament, in the old [[feudal]] tradition, and merely ''implied'' the existence or creation of an hereditary peerage dignity, which is automatically inherited, presumably according to the traditional mediæval rules (male-preference [[primogeniture]], similar to the succession of the British crown). Letters patent explicitly create a dignity and specify its course of inheritance (usually [[agnatic]] succession, like the [[Salic Law]]).
Once created, a peerage dignity continues to exist as long as there are surviving descendants of the first holder, unless a contrary method of descent is specified in the letters patent. Once the heirs of the original peer die out, the peerage dignity becomes extinct. In former times, peerage dignities were often ''forfeit'' by Acts of Parliament, usually when peers were found guilty of [[treason]]. Often, however, the felonious peer's descendants successfully petitioned the Sovereign to restore the dignity to the family. Some dignities, such as the [[Duke of Norfolk|Dukedom of Norfolk]], have been forfeit and restored several times. Under the [[Peerage Act 1963]] an individual can disclaim his peerage dignity within one year of inheriting it.
When the holder of a peerage succeeds to the throne, the dignity ''merges in the Crown'' and ceases to exist.
All hereditary peers in the Peerages of England, Scotland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom were entitled to sit in the House of Lords, subject only to qualifications such as age and citizenship, but under the [[House of Lords Act 1999]] they lost this right. The Act provided that 92 hereditary peers — the [[Lord Great Chamberlain]] and the [[Earl Marshal]], 75 hereditary peers elected by other peers, and fifteen chosen by the government — would remain in the House of Lords in the interim, pending any reform of the membership to the House.
From 1707 until 1963 Scottish peers elected 16 [[representative peer]]s to sit in the House of Lords. Since 1963 they have had the same rights as Peers of the United Kingdom.
From 1801 until 1922 Irish peers elected 28 representative peers to sit in the House of Lords. In [[1922]] the [[Irish Free State]] became a separate country.
Some hereditary titles can pass through and vest in female heirs in a system called [[coparceny]].
==Life peers==
{{Main|Life peer}}
The [[Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876]] and the [[Life Peerages Act 1958]] authorise the regular creation of life peerages. Life peers created under both acts are of baronial rank, though there is nothing to prevent the creation by the Sovereign of a life peer of some other rank. They are always created under letters patent.
Life peers created under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act are known as "Lords of Appeal in Ordinary". They perform the [[judicial functions of the House of Lords]] and serve on the [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]]. They remain peers for life, but cease to receive judicial salaries at the age of 75. There may be no more than 12 Lords of Appeal in Ordinary under the age of 75 at one time.
There is no limit on the number of peerages the Sovereign may create under the Life Peerages Act. Normally life peerages are granted to individuals nominated by political parties or by the House of Lords Appointments Commission, and to honour important public figures such as the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] and the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] on their retirement.
==Styles and titles==
:''Main articles: [[Forms of Address in the United Kingdom]], [[Courtesy title]]''
Dukes use ''His Grace'', Marquesses use ''The Most Honourable'' and other peers use ''The Right Honourable''. Peeresses (whether they hold peerages in their own right or are wives of peers) use equivalent styles.
In speech, any peer or peeress except a Duke or Duchess is referred to as ''Lord X'' or ''Lady X''. The exception is a ''[[suo jure]]'' Baroness (that is, one holding the dignity in her own right, usually a life peeress), who may also be called ''Baroness X'' in normal speech, though ''Lady X'' is also common usage. Hence, the [[Margaret Thatcher|Baroness Thatcher]], a ''suo jure'' life peeress, may be referred to as either "Baroness Thatcher" or "Lady Thatcher". "Baroness" is incorrect for female holders of Scottish Lordships of Parliament, who are not Baronesses; for example, the [[Flora Fraser, 21st Lady Saltoun|21st Lady Saltoun]] is known as "Lady Saltoun", not "Baroness Saltoun".
A peer is referred to by his peerage even if it is the same as his surname, thus the [[David Owen|Baron Owen]] is "Lord Owen" not "Lord David Owen", though such incorrect forms are commonly used.
Some peers, particularly life peers who were well-known before their ennoblement, do not use their peerage titles. Others use a combination: for example, the author [[John Julius Norwich]] is John Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich.
Individuals who use the style ''Lord'' or ''Lady'' are not necessarily peers. Children of peers use special titles called [[courtesy title]]s. The eldest son of a duke, a marquess, or an earl generally uses his father's highest lesser peerage dignity as his own. Hence, the [[Duke of Devonshire]]'s son is called [[Marquess of Hartington]]. Such an eldest son is called a ''courtesy peer'', but is a commoner until such time as he inherits.
Younger sons of dukes and marquesses prefix ''Lord'' to their first names as courtesy titles while daughters of dukes, marquesses and earls use ''Lady''. Younger sons of earls and children of viscounts, barons and lords of Parliament use ''The Honourable''.
==Privilege of Peerage==
[[Image:MarqBath.jpg|thumb|150px|Peers wear ceremonial robes, whose designs are based on their rank.]]{{Main|Privilege of Peerage}}
The Privilege of Peerage is the body of privileges that belongs to peers, their wives and their unremarried widows. While the Privilege of Peerage was once extensive, only three privileges survived into the 20th century:
* the right to be tried by fellow peers in the [[Lord High Steward]]'s Court and in the House of Lords, abolished 1948;
* the right to personally access the Sovereign, but this privilege has long been obsolete;
* the right to be exempt from civil arrest. This privilege has been used only twice since [[1945]].
Peers enjoy several rights that do not formally form a part of the Privilege of the Peerage. For instance:
* peers and their families have positions in the [[order of precedence]].
* peers wear special [[coronet]]s at coronations of Sovereigns; depictions of these coronets also appear atop peers' [[heraldry|armorial achievements]].
* peers have distinctive robes for use at coronations and in the House of Lords (if a member of the latter).
==History==
{{Main|History of the Peerage}}
When [[William I of England|William of Normandy]] conquered England, he divided the nation into many "manors", the owners of which came to be known as barons; those who held many manors were known as "greater barons", while those with fewer manors were the "lesser barons". When Kings summoned their barons to Royal Councils, the greater barons were summoned individually by the Sovereign, lesser barons through sheriffs. In [[1254]], the lesser barons ceased to be summoned, and the body of greater barons evolved into the House of Lords. Since the Crown was itself a hereditary dignity, it seemed natural for seats in the upper House of Parliament to be so as well. By the beginning of the 14th century, the hereditary characteristics of the Peerage were well developed. The first peer to be created by patent was [[Lord Beauchamp]] of Holt in the reign of [[Richard II of England|Richard II]].
The ranks of baron and earl date to feudal, and perhaps [[Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon]], times. The ranks of duke and marquess were introduced in the 14th century, and that of viscount in the 15th century. While life peerages were often created in the early days of the Peerage, their regular creation was not provided for by Act of Parliament until the [[Appellate Jurisdiction Act]] [[1876]].
==Counterparts==
Other feudal monarchies equally had a similar system, grouping high nobility of different rank titles under one term, with common privileges and/or in an assembly, sometimes legislative and/or judicial.
In France, the system of [[Peerage of France|pairie]]s (peerage) existed in two different versions: the exclusive 'old' in the French kingdom, in many respects an inspiration for the English/British practice, and the very prolific [[chambre des pairs]] of the Bourbon Restoration (1814-1848)
In Spain and Portugal, the closest equivalent title was [[grandee]]; in Hungary, [[magnate]].
In the Holy Roman Empire, instead of an exclusive aristocratic assembly, the imperial Diet, the ''[[Reichstag (institution)|Reichstag]]'', was the highest organ, membership of which, expressed by the title [[Reichsfürst]], was granted to all major princes, and various minor ones, princes of the church (parallel to the Lords spiritual) and in some cases restricted to a collective 'curiate' vote in a 'bench', such as the [[Grafenbank]].
==See also==
*[[Aristocracy]]
*[[Baron]]
*[[Baronies created by error]]
*[[British nobility]]
*[[Cash for honours]]
*[[Count]]
*[[Duke]]
*[[Earl]]
*[[House of Lords]]
*[[Landed gentry]]
*[[List of Baronies]]
*[[List of dukedoms in the peerages of the British Isles]]
*[[List of Earldoms]]
*[[List of Irish representative peers]]
*[[List of Law Life Peerages]] (Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876)
*[[List of Life Peerages]] (Life Peerages Act, 1958)
*[[List of Marquessates]]
*[[List of spiritual peers]]
*[[List of Viscountcies]]
*[[Marquess]]
*[[Substantive title]]
*[[Upper class]]
*[[Viscount]]
==References==
*[http://www.lonang.com/exlibris/blackstone/ Blackstone, W. (1765). ''Commentaries on the Laws of England''. Oxford: Clarendon Press.]
*Bush, Michael L. ''The English Aristocracy: a Comparative Synthesis''. Manchester University Press, 1984. Concise comparative historical treatment.
*[http://www.geocities.com/noelcox/Peerage_Law.htm Cox, N. (1997). "The British Peerage: The Legal Standing of the Peerage and Baronetage in the overseas realms of the Crown with particular reference to New Zealand." <cite>New Zealand Universities Law Review.</cite> (Vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 379–401).]
*[http://home.freeuk.com/don-aitken/emayvols.html Farnborough, T. E. May, 1st Baron. (1896). <cite>Constitutional History of England since the Accession of George the Third</cite>, 11th ed. London: Longmans, Green and Co.]
*[http://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/peerage.htm Heraldica.org on the French peerage]
*''Hilfswörterbuch für Historiker'' (in German)
*Paul, James Balfour (ed.). ''The Scots Peerage Founded on . . . Sir Robert Douglas’s Peerage of Scotland''. 9v. Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1904-14.
*"Peerage." (1911). <cite>Encyclopædia Britannica</cite>, 11th ed. London: Cambridge University Press.
*[http://home.freeuk.net/don-aitken/peer63.htm Peerage Act 1963. (1963 c. 48). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.]
*Plowden. Alison. ''Lords of the Land''. Michael Joseph, 1984.
*Sanford, John Langton & Meredith Townsend. ''The Great Governing Families of England''. 2v. Blackwood & Sons, 1865 (Books for Libraries Press, 1972).
==External links==
*[http://www.burkes-peerage.net/ Burke's Peerage & Gentry]
*[http://www.thepeerage.com/ thePeerage.com]
*[http://genealogics.org/ Genealogics.org]
* [http://www.faketitles.com/ Fake titles]
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