TWOFOLD JURISDICTION OF THE LYON.

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first, the superintendence and regulation of all matters connected with Armorial Bearings; and, secondly, the nomination and control of the whole body of Messengersat-Arms, in which last respect he may be regarded as essentially at the head of the civil branch of the executive department of the Law. Accordingly, it has been suggested that it might deserve consideration whether it would not be expedient, with a view at once to give unity of management to the entire department, and to relieve the Sheriff of all but judicial duties, to impose upon the Lord Lyon and his Officers the execution of process of every kind, and the whole ministerial powers of the Sheriff, in so far as these are executive or auxiliary to the Courts of Law.1

1 See Encyclopædia Britannica, 7th edition, xix. 761.

CHAPTER III.

JURISDICTION OF THE LORD LYON IN MATTERS OF

HERALDRY.

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IN former days the Lyon King-of-Arms appears to have refused the use of a Coat Armorial to none who were able to maintain a horse with furniture for the service of the Sovereign :---" Dummodo heretici non sint, contra fidem, ex illegitimo toro prognati, vel ex ignobili sanguine oriundi, sed viri probi et honesti nominis." Whatever may have been the case at an' carlier period, the Lyon had an ordinary jurisdiction in matters of Heraldry before the middle of the sixteenth century, subject, probably, to the Constable or Marshal. This is clearly proved by the original Register of the Arms of the Nobility and Barons of Scotland, by Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, Lyon King-of Arms, which is still preserved in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, and of which a fac simile was published about thirty years ago, under the able superintendence of Mr. David Laing. This curious manuscript, which appears to have been emblazoned about the year 1542, is authen1 See Nishet's Heraldry, vol. ii. pt. iv. p. 166.

STATUTE OF 1592.

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ticated as the official Record, by the following attestation at the end of the volume :--

"This Booke and Register of Armes, done by Sir David Lindesay of the Mount, Lyone King-of-Armes, Regn. Ja. v., contains CVI. leaves, which register was approvene be the Lordis of his Majesties most honorable Privie Counsale at Halierude house, ix. Decem. 1630. (Signed) SIR JAMES BALFOUR, Lyone.

THOMAS DRYISDALE, Ilay Herald, Register."

The irregularities in the bearing of Coat Armour, which are believed to have resulted from the gradual disuse of Seals as a documentary solemnity, towards the close of the sixteenth century, had in all probability an important influence in inducing the Scottish Parliament to make some statutory provisions upon the subject. Accordingly, the first legislative enactment which directly bestows a jurisdiction upon the Lyon in questions of Armorial Bearings is the Statute 1592, c. 125,1 by which he is empowered to inspect the Arms of all Noblemen, Barons, and Gentlemen, to distinguish them with proper differences, to matriculate them in his Books and Registers, to put inhibition to all the common sort of people, not worthy by the law of Arms to bear any signs armorial;" and, finally, to enforce certain penalties against those persons who presumed to use heraldic ensigns without lawful authority.

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The jurisdiction of the Lyon King in matters of Heraldry was more fully set forth in an Act passed after

1 Folio Edit. c. 29.

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ACTS OF 1662 AND 1672.

the Restoration (1662, c. 53), by which he was declared to be the only competent judge in all questions respecting the distinction of Arms to be worn by the younger branches of families, of whose descent he was authorized to take evidence; and also empowered "to punish, according to the Acts of Parliament made against the bearers of false arms," all those who ventured to assume any additions to their Coats Armorial without his approbation. Besides other provisions, the same statute ratified and confirmed a grant by Charles I. to the Lyon King-of-Arms, of certain fees and casualties payable at the funerals of Prelates and Noblemen, and conferred on the said Lyon and his successors in office full exemption from all taxation, whether then subsisting or to be imposed in time coming. It is unnecessary, however, to make any further observations upon this statute, as it was repealed in the following year (1663, c. 15).

The next legislative enactment on the subject of Armorial Bearings, 1672, c. 21,1 renews and confirms the powers granted in 1592, and makes provision for their more effectual execution, by commanding all persons who use Ensigns Armorial to send an account of the same, within a year from the publication of the Act, with authenticated certificates of their use of the said ensigns, as well as of their descent, in order, as formerly, that the Lyon may distinguish their Arms with proper differences and matriculate them in his Books. This statute further expressly authorizes the Lyon to give Armorial Bearings "to virtuous and well-deserving per

1 Folio Edit. c. 47.

TREATY OF UNION.

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sons," and to furnish extracts, or authenticated copies, of Arms, under his hand and Seal of Office, for which certain payments are appointed to be made, according to the quality of the Bearer. It also remits any penalties that may have been incurred previous to the date of its enjoined publication, and after declaring that the Lyon's Register "shall be respected as the true and unrepealable rule of all arms and bearings in Scotland," it repeats, with some modification, the pains which are denounced against the wearers of false arms by the Act of 1592.

By these two statutes (1592 and 1672), the jurisdiction of the Lyon King in questions of Armorial Bearings is fully established; and, accordingly, for a period of two hundred and seventy years, he has been legally empowered to regulate their use and assumption. His authority is reserved entire in the nineteenth article of the Treaty of Union, by which, after a notice of the Court of Session and other Supreme Judicatures, it is distinctly declared "that all other Courts now in being within the Kingdom of Scotland do remain ;" while the twenty-fourth article provides" that the quartering the arms, and the rank and precedency of the Lyon King-atArms of the Kingdom of Scotland, as may best suit the Union, be left to her Majesty." Finally, it may be stated upon this point, that the Lord Lyon's authority in questions of Armorial Bearings has been expressly sustained by more than one decision of the Court of Session.

It is important, however, to ascertain whether or not the jurisdiction of the Lord Lyon, in matters of Arms, admits of any limitation. There is no very distinct de