CHANCELLOR was at first only a chief notary or scribe under the emperors, and was called cancellarius, because he sat behind a lattice (in Latin cancellus}, to avoid being crowded by the people; but some derive the word from caìicellare, to cancel. This officer was afterwards invested with several judicial powers, and a general superintendence over the rest of the officers of the prince. From the Roman empire it passed to the Roman church, ever emulous of imperial state; and hence every bishop has to this day his chancellor, who is the principal judge of his consistory. And when the modern kingdoms of Europe were established upon the ruins of the empire, almost every state preserved its chancellor with different jurisdictions and dignities, according to their different constitutions. But in all of them he seems to have had the supervision of charters, letters, and such other public instruments of the crown as were authenticated in the most solemn manner; and therefore, when seals came in use, he had always the custody of the king’s great seal.

Lord High Chancellor of Great Eritain, or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, is the highest honour of the long robe, and created by the mere delivery of the king’s great seal into the custody of him who is selected to fill the office; by which he becomes, without writ or patent, an officer of the greatest weight and power of any in the kingdom. He is a privy counsellor by his office, and, according to Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, prolocutor of the House of Lords by prescription. To him belongs the appointment of all the justices of the peace throughout the kingdom. In former times the chancellor or lord-keeper being commonly an ecclesiastic (for none else were then capable of an office so conversant in writing), and presiding over the royal chapel, he became keeper of the king’s conscience; visitor, in right of the king, of all hospitals and colleges of the king’s foundation; and patron of all the king’s livings rated under the value of L.20 per annum in the king’s books. He is the general guardian of all infants, idiots, and lunatics, and has the superintendence of all charitable uses in the kingdom; and this over and above the vast extensive jurisdiction which he exercises in his judicial capacity in the court of chancery. He takes precedence of every temporal lord except the members of the royal family, arid of all spiritual peers except the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Chancellor of a Cathedral, an officer who hears lessons and lectures read in the church, either by himself or his vicar, and whose duty it is to correct and set right the reader when he reads amiss; to inspect schools; to hear causes; to apply the seal; to write and dispatch the letters of the chapter; to keep the books; to take care that there be frequent preachings, both in the church and out of it; and to assign the office of preaching to whomsoever he pleases.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, an officer appointed chiefly to determine controversies between the king and his tenants of the duchy land, and otherwise to direct all the king’s affairs belonging to that court.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, an officer who presides in that court, and takes care of the interest of the crown. He is always in commission with the lord treasurer for the letting of crown lands, &c. and has power, with others, to compound for forfeitures of lands upon penal statutes. He is also the principal functionary in managing the revenues of the state.

Chancellor of the order of the Garter and other military orders, is an officer who seals the commissions and mandates of the chapter and assembly of the knights, keeps the register of their proceedings, and delivers acts thereof under the seal of their order.

Chancellor of an University is he who seals the diplomas, or letters of degrees, provision, and the like, given in the university.