Baron

Baron is the most ancient of the degrees of Baron, peerage; it dates from the Conquest. [Latin baro, or or, a man, German bar, a freeman, Spanish raro, a stout noble person,] a feudal honour of great antiquity. Barons were those who held their lands of a superior by military and other services. For some tune before the Norman Conquest this name was commonly used in France to denote a person of the first dignity ; but after that event it was introduced into England, and used to signify an immediate vassal of the Crown, bound for his lands to give personal service to the king in his wars, to attend at his court and council when summoned, and to do homage to him and acknowledge himself his " man " or baron. Every baron, whatever were his holdings, if he had a barony and the power of pit and gallows, had a right to sit and vote in the national council. Few or none of the smaller lairds, however, availed themselves of a privilege involving the obligation of distant journeys and much expense, and the consequence was a great accession of power to the higher nobles. Hence came the distinction of the greater and lesser barons. Barones majores being peers, the Barones minores being gentry possessed of lands erected into a barony, sometimes called Free Barons. The greater barons were sufficiently distinguished from the lesser barons by their grants or patents of peerage, whereby they were dignified by the titles of duke, earl, or baron.

In modern English usage the term is particularly applied to a member of the lowest order of the peerage, but in ancient records (as Lord Coke observes) the barony included all the (titular) nobility of England, because all noblemen were barons though they might possess a higher dignity also and the great council of peers, in which were included dukes, marquesses, and earls, as well as barons, was styled simply the "Council de Baronage."

In England the barons ceased to be peers, unless so created, during the thirteenth century. The uame is now used as the title of the lowest order of the nobility. Barons, except in announcement of new baronies, are always styled as Lord. Some peers have a territorial designation as part of their name. When it is not part of their name the territorial designation is not given, except when a new title is being reported. Peers are obliged to include a territorial designation in their title when there is another peerage with an identical name. Thus when Chris Patten was ennobled he had to become Lord Patten of Barnes, as his contemporary John Patten had already become Lord Patten. It is important to give the full title in reports to avoid confusion. Lord Patten has the territorial designation "of Wincanton" but it is not part of his title, and nor, as the first Patten peerage to be created, is he obliged to use it. Lord Patten of Barnes, as the second creation with that name, is.

The origin and primary import of this term bave been much contested. Menage derives it from the Latin buro, a word which we find used in classical Latin to signify "a simple" or "foolish man" (Cie. Fin., ii. 23). Another form of the same word appears to be vara, tó which Lucilius gives the meaning "a stupid man," "a blockhead," Forcellini observing that its primary sense is " a block of tough, hard wood." But with greater probability Graft derives the word baron from the uld Qorman Bar - Mann, freier Mann. The word seems related to the Spanish varan, which means "a male".

The origin and comparativa antiquity of barons have been the subject of much research amongst antiquaries. The most probable opinion is that they were the same as the present lords of manors ; and to this the appellation of court-baron, given to the lord's court, and incident to every manor, seems to lend countenance. The term baron had, therefore, originally a very extensive meaning, being applicable to all tenants-in chief of the Crown, whether holding by knight service or by grand serjeantry. But the latter only were in the narrower sense the king's barons, and as such possessed both a civil and criminal jurisdiction.

An inferior order of territorial Nobility was known in the Anglo-Saxon polity, divided into the spiritual and secular classes, by the names of Messe Thegncs and World Thegnes. The former were not Bishops who by that name (Biscecrpes) ranked with the Earls, but subordinate Priests, ranked by the laws of King Athelstan on an equality with the secular Thanes. The latter were hereditarily endowed with fair possessions, held of the King by tenure of Knight's service, and called Tainland. They belonged to the great nobility, though the officiary dignity of Highgereve ranked before them.

To constitute a Thane, it was necessary that he should possess a distinct office in the King's Court ; or, being a churle or countryman, that he should have " fully five hides of his own land, a church, a kitchen, a bellhouse. and a boroughgate with a seat." In these curious particulars, handed down by a Saxon writer, an interesting insight is afforded us into the manners and piety of our ancestors. A great Lord must have a church for the edification of his family and retainers ; he must also keep a court in which justice may be administered to them-the original of the Court Baron, still existing in all manors, and described under those simple words, " sitting in the gate," which we so often read in the Scripture ; the hospitality required of them is expressed in the kitchen and the bellhouse being the only indispensable parts of a mansion ; the bellhouse denoted the hall of entertainment to which the guests, no doubt, were summoned, as is still practised in the country seats of our gentry, by ringing a bell ; and it is remarkable that a statute of Richard II. calls the King's Hall "Tinel-le-Roy," from the tinkling of a bell.

Under the Norman monarchy, the term Baron gradually superseded that of Thane; at first they were used indiscriminately, except that Baron is never applied, as in the Saxon description of a Thane, to the servants of the King's Court in that capacity ; a Baron must hold territorial Barony, by feudal service, immediately of the King. Seiden, in his "Titles of Honour," describing the principles of the feudal Baronage, divides the time from the Conquest into three periods : the first comprehending from the Conquest to the end of the reign of King John ; the second, to the eleventh year of Richard II. ; the third, from the latter period to that in which he wrote, and which may now be extended to the present time.

In the first period, all who held any quantity of land directly from the King had, without distinction, a right to be summoned to Parliament ; and this right being confined solely to the King's tenants of consequence, all the Peers of Parliament during that period sat by virtue of tenure and a writ of summons. But towards its close the conflux of Peers became so large and troublesome, that the King was obliged to divide them, and summon only the greater Barons in person ; leaving the small ones to be summoned by the Sheriff, and (as it is said by Blackstone) to sit by representation in another house ; which gave rise to the separation of the two Houses of Parliament.

In the beginning of the second period - that is, in the last year of the reign of King John, this distinction was confirmed by Magna Charta. Tenure, therefore, now began to be disregarded, and persons who held no lands of the Crown were summoned to Parliament by the King's writ ; and it has been held that right by tenure ceased under Henry III., and that no person was then considered to be entitled to sit in the Parliament, unless he was summoned thereto by the King's writ ; though it is contended, on the authority of a proceeding in the Parliament of 1225, that the Crown never possessed the prerogative of omitting to summon to every Parliament the Barones majores, who had formerly been entitled to sit in right of their tenures.

In the reign of King John an alteration of great importance took place in the rights of the barons and tenants in capite: for only the principal barons, or barones majores, were summoned to attend parliament by particular writs from the King ; and the rest, who acquired the appellation of barones minores, were called by one general summons, from the sheriffs of their respective counties. This practice was recognized and legally established by the Magna Charta of King John. From this period the right of sitting in parliament appears to have been confined to those persons who were possessed of entire baronies. But in the reign of King Henry III a still greater alteration took place in the rights of the barons: for whereas every tenant in capite was, before that period, ipso facto, a parliamentary baron, and entitled to be summoned, either by the king's writ, or by the sheriff; yet about that time some new law is said to have been made, by which it was established that no person, though possessed of a barony, should come to parliament, without being expressly summoned by the king's writ, by which the king certifies a person to be a peer.

In consequence of the practice of subinfeudation, the great lords, particularly those who were earls palatine, called their immediate tenants or vassals, barons. Thus the earls of Chester and the bishops of Durham had their barons. The city of London and the Cinque Ports had also their barons. In like manner the parliamentary barons were called barones regis, or barons regni, in order to distinguish them from those inferior barons.

That the right to a seat in Parliament, as attached to the possession of certain lands, is now wholly abolished, is evidenced by the proceedings in the case of Benjamin Mildmay, Esq., who. in 1668, presented a petition, claiming the Barony of Fitz-Walter, as heir-general of Robei't Fitz-Walter, summoned to Parliament in the twenty-thud of Edward I., A.i). 1295, and was opposed by Robert Cheeke, Esq. Whereupon, his Majesty was pleased to order in Council that the cause should be heard by the Privy Council, on the 19th January, 1669, when the two Chief Justices and the Lord Chief Baron were ordered to attend. The Counsel for the said Robert Choeke affirmed that the same was a Barony by tenure, and ought to go along with the land : which the Counsel of the Petitioner denied, and offered to argue upon the same. Upon which, both parties being ordered to withdraw, the nature of a Barony by tenure being discoursed, it was found to have been discontinued for many ages, and not in being, and not fit to be revived, or to admit any pretence of right of succession thereupon. It was ordered by his Majesty in Council, "that the Petitioner is admitted humbly to address himself to his Majesty for his writ to sit in the House of Peers as Baron Fitz-Walter," and he was so summoned accordingly. In every instance since, which has had any bearing upon the question of Baronies by Tenure, the resolutions of the House of Lords have tended to confirm that of the Privy Council in 1669.

The barony of De Ros, created 1264, at present stands first. Before the time of Edward I it is doubtful whether baronies, as separate and distinct inheritances independent of the tenure of land, existed. The tenants in capite of the Crown, or some specially qualified section, were the Barons, and it was the tenure of land which conferred the qualification for, or the right to receive, a summons to the great councils of the realm.

The third period commences in 1387, with the first instance of a creation by patent, when Richard II. created John de Beauchamp, Baron Beauchamp of Kydderminster, with remainder to the heirs male of his body, since which period Peerages have been indifferently created by writ or patent, but in modern times by patent only, and usually with limitation to the heirs male of the body, but without prejudice to the right of the Crown to grant to any other remainder, or, which is less frequently (if indeed ever) exercised, to create a Barony by writ.

In the time of Edward I baronies as separate and distinct inheritances were first introduced: they were created by writ and sitting pursuant thereto, and thenceforth until 1387 this was the only mode in practice by which baronies were created. In 1387 came the first creation by patent, next in 1433, and next in 1441, and thenceforth the creation of baronies by writ and by letters patent were both in use, but gradually creation by letters patent superseded the creation by writ, and from the time of James I creation of baronies by patent has been almost exclusively adopted.

With regard to the mode in which a Peerage is hereditary, in the first century and a half of Norman rule, a Barony appears to have appertained to the tenure of a certain demesne, the honour consequently following the land, however conveyed. Also, that the inheritance of Peerages conferred by patent is, by the instrument of creation, so defined, or rather limited from what would otherwise have been its natural course, as to be incapable of any other than the designed succession.

It therefore remains to explain the effect on the inheritance of a title derived from a writ of summons, and a sitting under it, without which consummation the writ conveys no right. And this effect is so intelligible to Englishmen, from its near affinity to the operation of a fee simple, that a few particulars only require notice, in which it differs from that well-understood rule of common law. First, then, it is distinctly laid down that the writ of summons conveys no inheritance except to the descendants of the first Baron who took his seat under it. Secondly, on the failure of an equally proximate male the right of females is admitted, as in inheritances at common law ; but with a difference growing out of the nature of the estate, which, being a Parliamentary Barony, is indivisible.* Thus, if a Baron leaves no son, the honour becomes vested in his daughters ; if he has only one daughter, she succeeds to it, but if there be more daughters than one, the title falls into Abeyance amongst them, and continues in that state either until all but one of the daughters be deceased without issue, or the sole heir of only one daughter survives ; in which case the Barony devolves on the surviving daughter, or the heir of her body.

If, however, the representation of such daughter be among her co-heirs, the dignity falls into abeyance among them, but the moment the representation is vested in an individual, that individual will have an immediate right to the Barony. During the continuance of the abeyance it is the prerogative of the Crown to terminate it, by conferring the Peerage on any one of the co-heirs ; no one being injured by this operation of the royal favour, as no one could claim the title until all the other co-heirs were extinct. The person so preferred, however, must be the heir-general of one of the original co-heirs, or of some later co-heir of her moiety of inheritance.

The manner of terminating the abeyance of a dignity in favour of a male co-heir who is not a Peer, is by the issuing of a writ of summons, by the style and title of the Barony in abeyance ; but when the person in whose favour an abeyance is to be determined is already a Peer, and has a higher dignity, the Sovereign confirms the Barony to him by letters-patent ; and in the case of a female, an abeyance is also terminated by patent. On failure of the descendante of the body of the person so summoned, or confirmed by patent, the Barony would again fall into abeyance, unless such failure involved that of all the other branches, leaving a sole representative of one of the original co-heirs, who in that case would take the title by right of inheritance from his ancestor.

It must be remembered that the representation of a Barony by writ is always vested in the heirs of the body of the person first created ; thus, on tbe death of a Baron who inherited the dignity, without issue, the title, if he has no brother living, or there be no issue of such brother, will become vested in his sister or sisters, or their heirs ; in default of which it will revert to his eldest uncle of the side from which he inherited the dignity, or his issue ; failing which, to his aunts and their issue ; the females of each generation being preferred to the males of the preceding generation. On the failure of the issue of a Baron who inherited a dignity from his mother, the dignity of course devolves on the issue of his mother, males of the same degree being preferred to females, if the patent included females.

It may here be remarked that the style of summons to Parliament as addressed to an English Baron differs from that addressed to the other orders of Nobility : these latter are always summoned by their Christian names end titles, as Henry, Duke of Norfolk ; Augustus John Henry Beaumont, Marquis of Winchester. But the Barons by their Christian and surnames, to which the title is added, with the addition of the Norman Style, " Chevalier ;" thus, George Fitzroy Henry Somerset, of Raglan, in the County of Mon- mouth, Chevalier,

When the eldest son of a Peer is summoned by writ to the House of Lords in his father's lifetime, and placed in a Barony vested in his father, the writ neither takes the Barony out of the father, nor creates any new estate in it in the son, but is merely allowed to enable him to sit in Parliament. If, however, he should die before his father, leaving an heir of his body capable of inheriting the Barony, according to the original limitation of it, such heir, if a son of full age, would be entitled to a Writ of Summons.

The usual limit is to the grantee and heirs male of his body; occasionally (as in the case of Lord Brougham) in default of male issue, to a collateral male relative ; and occasionally (as in the case of Lord Nelson) to the heirs of a sister.

The rank of Baron has always had the preponderance in number over the other classes of the English Peerage, but at present it is a more numerous body than all the other Peers collectively.

In Scotland, the title of Baron does not appear till the year 1430, when "Thomas Dominus Somerville" is named as one of the conservators of the truce with England. After this time the title became common, but the dates of the earlier creations are so uncertain, that it is not easy to settle the precedence of the respective Barons. Where no patent appears, the descent of a Scotch Peerage is usually, as in England, to the heirs-general, but with preference of primogeniture amongst the daughters as well as amongst the sons : and this is frequently the line of descent marked out by the patents or charters of creation. The number of Barons has never been great in the Peerage of Scotland, and is about half that of the Earls.

While the English feudal barons are frequently styled lords by the English genealogists, as Lord Percy, Lord Neville, Lord Mowbray, &c., it was not usual so to designate the Maginates Scotue, or great barons of Scotland, although their tenure, status, and rank were precisely the same. Of the thirteen competitors for the Scottish crown, on the death of Margaret of Norway, eight were untitled barons, while two others were styled lords of their respective possessions, as Comyn, lord of Badenoeh, and Bruce, lord of Annandale.

Kingsale, the first Irish Barony, bears date from 1181. The nature of the Irish Baronies resembles those of England, being originally founded on feudal tenure, afterwards on writs of summons to Parliament, and lastly on creations by patent. The number was about equal to that of the Earls.

The style of a Baron is " The Right Honourable Lord", he is addressed as " My Lord." His sons and daughters are all styled Honourable.

The coronation robes of a baron are the same as those of an earl, except that he has only two rows of spots on each shoulder ; and, in like manner, his parliamentary robes have but two guards of white for, with rows of gold lace ; but in other respects they are the same as those of other peers. King Charles II granted to the barons a coronet, having six large pearls set at equal distances on the chaplet. A baron's cap is the same as a viscount's. His style is Right Honourable; and he is addressed by the king or queen, Right Trusty and Well Beloved.

By an Act passed in 1876, the Crown is empowered to create a few "Life Peerages" in favour of distinguished lawyers. The first titles so created were those of Lord Blackburn, of Lord Gordon (since extinct), of Lord Watson, of Lord Fitzgerald (now extinct), of Lord Macnaghten of Lord Morris, and of Lord Hannen.