CHANCELLOR

(Lat. can cellar i us.) A high officer in many European states. The can cellar i us under the Roman emperors is supposed to have been a notary or scribe, and his title to have been derived from the cancelli or railing behind which he gate. In ecclesiastical matters, every bishop had (and continues to have) his chancellor, the principal judge of his consistory. The chancellor of France began to be an officer of importance under the Frankish kings, especially after the office of referendary had become merged in his, about the ninth century. In 1223 he was made the first minister of the crown, and rank next after the princes of the blood was a igned to him. The offices of chancellor and keeper of the seals were frequently united. Chancellor, Arch, op the Empire. This office, under the elective empire of Germany, belonged to the archbishop elector of Mentz. The archbishop of Cologne was titular arch-chancellor of Italy, the archbishop of Treves of Gaul and Arlea. Chancellor op a Diocese. The keeper of the seals of an archbishop or bishop. This office now includes those of official principal, whose duty is to hear and decide matters of temporal cognizance determinable in the bishop's court; and vicar-general, who exercises the jurisdiction properly spiritual. Chancellor op the Exchequer. The highest finance minister of the British government. This office is from its nature nece arily entrusted to a commoner, and is commonly united to that of first lord of the treasury when the premier happens to be below the peerage. The chancellor,as an officer of the Court of Exchequer, has precedence above the barons of that court. Chancellor op a University. The head of the corporate bodies by whom he is elected. He exercises exclusive jurisdiction in all civil actions and suits where a member of the university or privileged person is one of the parties, except in cases where the right to freehold is concerned [s. 227]