[1] The lord chamberlain of the household at one time discharged some
important political functions, which are described by Sir Harris
Nicolas (_Proceedings of the Privy Council_, vol. vi., Preface, p.
xxiii).
[2] The office of master of the ceremonies was created by James I.
The master of the ceremonies wears a medal attached to a gold chain
round his neck, on one side being an emblem of peace with the motto
"Beati pacifici," and on the other an emblem of war with the motto
"Dieu et mon droit" (see _Finetti Philoxensis_, by Sir John Finett,
master of the ceremonies to James I. and Charles I., 1656; and
D'Israeli's _Curiosities of Literature_, 10th ed., p. 242 seq.).
[3] See May, _Parliamentary Practice_, pp. 236, 244.
[4] The offices of master of the great wardrobe and master of the
jewel house in the lord chamberlain's department were abolished in
1782.
[5] In the reign of Queen Anne, Sarah duchess of Marlborough from
1704, and Elizabeth duchess of Somerset from 1710, held the combined
offices of mistress of the robes and groom of the stole.
[6] Since the great "bedchamber question" of 1839 the settled
practice has been for all the ladies of the court except the mistress
of the robes to receive and continue in their appointments
independently of the political connexions of their husbands, fathers
and brothers (see Gladstone's _Gleanings of Past Years_, i. 40; and
Torrens's _Memoirs of Lord Melbourne_, ii. 304).
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE, in England, the presiding judge of the king's bench
division of the High Court of Justice, and in the absence of the lord
chancellor, president of the High Court. He traces his descent from the
justiciar of the Norman kings. This officer appears first as the
lieutenant or deputy of the king, exercising all the functions of the
regal office in the absence of the sovereign. "In this capacity William
Fitz-Osbern, the steward of Normandy, and Odo of Bayeux, acted during
the Conqueror's visit to the continent in 1067; they were left,
according to William of Poitiers, the former to govern the north of
England, the latter to hold rule in Kent, vice sua; Florence of
Worcester describes them as "custodes Angliae," and Ordericus Vitalis
gives to their office the name of "praefectura." It would seem most
probable that William Fitz-Osbern at least was left in his character of
steward, and that the Norman seneschalship was thus the origin of the
English justiciarship" (Stubbs's _Constitutional History_, i. 346). The
same authority observes that William of Warenne and Richard Clare
(Bienfaite), who were left in charge of England in 1074, are named by a
writer in the next generation "praecipui Angliae justitiarii"; but he
considers the name to have not yet been definitely attached to any
particular office, and that there is no evidence to show that officers
appointed to this trust exercised any functions at all when the king was
at home, or in his absence exercised supreme judicial authority to the
exclusion of other high officers of the court. The office became
permanent in the reign of William Rufus, and in the hands of Ranulf
Flambard it became coextensive with the supreme powers of government.
But it was not till the reign of Henry II. that the chief officer of the
crown acquired the exclusive right to the title of _capitalis_ or
_totius Angliae justitiarius_. Stubbs considers that the English form of
the office is to be accounted for by the king's desire to prevent the
administration falling into the hands of an hereditary noble. The early
justiciars were clerics, in whom the possession of power could not
become hereditary. The justiciar continued to be the chief officer of
state, next to the king, until the fall of Hubert de Burgh (in the reign
of King John), described by Stubbs as the last of the great justiciars.
Henceforward, according to Stubbs, the office may be said to have
survived only in the judicial functions, which were merely part of the
official character of the chief justiciar. He was at the head of the
curia regis, which was separating itself into the three historical
courts of common law about the time when the justiciarship was falling
from the supreme place. The chancellor took the place of the justiciar
in council, the treasurer in the exchequer, while the two offshoots from
the curia regis, the common pleas and the exchequer, received chiefs of
their own. The king's bench represented the original stock of the curia
regis, and its chief justice the great justiciar. The justiciar may,
therefore, be said to have become from a political a purely judicial
officer. A similar development awaited his successful rival the
chancellor. Before the Judicature Act the king's bench and the common
pleas were each presided over by a lord chief justice, and the lord
chief justice of the king's bench was nominal head of all the three
courts, and held the title of lord chief justice of England. The titles
of lord chief justice of the common pleas and lord chief baron were
abolished by the Judicature Act 1873, and all the common law divisions
of the High Court united into the king's bench division, the president
of which is the lord chief justice of England.
The lord chief justice is, next to the lord chancellor, the highest
judicial dignitary in the kingdom. He is an _ex-officio_ judge of the
court of appeal. He holds office during good behaviour, and can only
be removed by the crown (by whom he is appointed) after a joint
address of both houses of parliament. He is now the only judicial
functionary privileged to wear the collar of SS. There has been much
discussion as to the origin and history of this collar;[1] it was a
badge or insignia attached to certain offices entitling the holders to
wear it only so long as they held those offices. The collar of SS. was
worn by the chiefs of the three courts previous to their amalgamation
in 1873, and that now worn by the lord chief justice of England was
provided by Sir A. Cockburn in 1859 and entailed by him on all holders
of the office. The salary is £8000 a year.
In the United States the supreme court consists of a chief justice and
eight associate justices, any six of whom make a quorum. The salary of
the chief justice is $13,000 and that of the associates $12,500. The
chief justice takes rank next after the president, and he administers
the oath on the inauguration of a new president and vice-president.
The principal or presiding judge in most of the state judicatures also
takes the title of chief justice.