   chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. the original chancellors were the cancellarii of roman courts of justiceâushers, who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the audience. a chancellor's office is called a chancellery or chancery. the word is now used in the titles of many various officers in all kinds of settings (government, education, religion etc.). nowadays the term is most often used to describe: *the head of the government *a person in charge of foreign affairs *a person with duties related to justice *a person in charge of financial and economic issues *the head of a university ==head of government== *the chancellor of germany or bundeskanzler (meaning "federal chancellor" in german), is the title for the head of government in germany. bundeskanzlerin is the exclusively feminine form. in german politics the bundeskanzler position is equivalent to that of a prime minister and is elected by the bundestag, the german parliament, every four years. the current german bundeskanzlerin is angela merkel. : the former german empire, the weimar republic and nazi germany had the equivalent position of reichskanzler ("chancellor of the realm"), as the head of the executive appointed by the german emperor from 1871 until 1918, and then as the head of government until 1945. *the chancellor of austria, also titled bundeskanzler, is the head of government in austria. werner faymann is the current bundeskanzler in austria. *in switzerland, the federal chancellor (bundeskanzler, chancelier fÃ©dÃ©ral, cancelliere della confederazione) is elected by the swiss parliament to head the federal chancelleryâthe general staff of the seven-member executive federal council, the swiss government. the chancellor participates in the meetings of the seven federal councilors with a consultative vote and prepares the reports on policy and activities of the council to parliament. the chancellery is responsible for the publication of all federal laws. ==foreign minister== in south america, the terms canciller (spanish) or chanceler (portuguese), equivalent to "chancellor", are commonly used informally to refer to the post of foreign minister. likewise, the ministry of foreign affairs in many south american countries is referred to as the cancillerÃ­a or (in brazil) chancelaria. however, in spain the term canciller refers to
Chancellors_(government) Titles_of_national_or_ethnic_leadership