(Vol. v., p. 297.)
According to Burke's _Peerage_ for 1850, the present Lord Erroll is "the
twenty-second High Constable of Scotland; and as such is, by birth, the
first subject in Scotland after the blood-royal, having a right to take
place of every hereditary honour, which was granted to his lordship's
father on the visit of George IV. to North Britain" (in 1822).
In a small treatise, _De Jure Prelationis Nobilium Scotiæ_, printed by
the Bannatyne Club in 1827, from a manuscript in the Advocates' Library,
with a preface and numerous additions by Sir Alexander Seton, Lord
Pitmedden, I find the following remark, under the head of "Comes de
Erroll":--
"The Earle of Erroll claims precedency of all the nobilitie of
Scotland nixt to the Chancellour, though of ane ancienter creation
than himself, be vertue of his office of Constabulary, of the
which that precedency is a priviledge; and to instruct that it is
a priviledge, he produces a Report of a Commission that was
granted be the King under the Great Seal anno 1631, to take tryall
of the priviledges of the Constable; which Report, in the second
article thereof, bears that the precedency is due to the Constable
next to the Chancellor, _but he has never been in possession of
it, but only takes place by his antiquity as Earle_."
The report here referred to is given in Nisbet's _Heraldry_, vol. ii. p.
67. In the eighth chapter of Sir George Mackenzie's treatise on
"Precedency" (p. 534. of the second volume of his works), your
correspondent will find some interesting information regarding the
ancient office of High Constable. In the course of his remarks the
learned author says:
"Next to these (_i.e._ the Chancellor, Justice-General,
Chamberlain, High Steward, Panetarius, and Buttelarius) are named,
in the laws of King Malcolm Canmore (1057-1093), the Constable and
Marishal; but now the Constable and Marishal take not place as
officers of the Crown, but according to their creation as Earls:
the reason thereof I conceive to be, because of old offices did
not prefer those who possessed them, but they took place according
to their creation; whereas now the Privy Seal precedes all Dukes,
and the Secretary takes place before all of his own rank; but the
Constable and Marishal, being now the only two officers of the
Crown that are heritable in Scotland, continue to possess as they
did formerly. But in France, England, and all other places, the
Constable and Marishal take place as officers of the Crown; and it
seems very strange that these, who ride upon the King's right and
left hand when he returns from his Parliaments, and who guard the
Parliament itself, and the honours, should have no precedency by
their offices; and yet I cannot deny, but that of old other Earls
were placed before them; for in the former Charter granted by King
Alexander, Malcolm Earl of Fife is placed before them. And I
conceive their precedency has not risen of late to the same
proportion with others, because, of late, our armies have been
commanded by other officers, and so there was little use for the
Constable and Marishal."