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The title keeper of the seals or equivalent is used in several contexts, denoting the person entitled to keep and authorize use of the great seal of a given country. The title may or may not be linked to a particular cabinet or ministerial office. This is most often the case today, but in the past the role was often a distinct and important job.
The official Keeper of the Great Seal of Canada is the Governor General. At his or her installation, the governor general swears three oaths, one of which is the oath of the office of keeper of the great seal. The seal is also presented to the Governor General who entrusts it back to the registrar general for safekeeping. The seal is actually kept with the Registrar General of Canada, a title which since 1995 has been linked to the office of Minister of Industry.
Each province since 1869 has its own seal and their keepers are the provincial Lieutenant Governors. [1] As the Registrar General actually keeps the Great seal of Canada, so the provincial Great Seals are placed by the lieutenant-governors of the provinces into the keeping of the provincial Attorneys-General.
The French "Keeper of the Seals" (Garde des Sceaux) is a title held by the Minister of Justice. Formerly, as Keeper of the Seals of France, this title belonged to the Chancellor, the ancien régime counterpart of the minister of justice. The title is nowadays often used interchangeably with "Minister of Justice of France."
The Minister of Justice guards the Great Seal of France, dating from 1848, in his or her office, as well as the stamping press. The Seal was used in 1958 to seal the Constitution of France and has since been used to seal certain constitutional amendments.
In Italy, the Minister of Justice assumes the duties of Guardasigilli (Keeper of the Seals). As Guardasigilli, the Minister of Justice countersigns all laws and decrees signed by the president and the decrees issued by other ministries. The Minister of Justice is also the editor of the Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana , the official bulletin of the Italian Republic.
The Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan (内大臣, Naidaijin) was an administrative post not of Cabinet rank in the government of the Empire of Japan, responsible for keeping the Privy Seal of Japan and State Seal of Japan.
In the Netherlands, custody of the great seal is held ex-officio by the Minister of Justice. [2]
The Governor-General of New Zealand has custody of the Seal of New Zealand. [3] However, responsibility for the seal is delegated to the Clerk of the Executive Council. [4] The seal is affixed to various instruments that require it. [5]
In medieval and Renaissance times the Papal Custode del Piombo ("Keeper of the Lead") was an important and well-paid office, always held by a friar. The painter Sebastiano del Piombo held it from 1531 until his death in 1546, and the nickname he is known by came from his job-title. He had to take holy orders for the purpose, despite having a wife and two sons. [6] The position was usually awarded for life, and in the Renaissance was often given to artists who worked on papal projects. The important architect Bramante had been appointed in 1513, but died the next year, when Mariano Fetti succeeded. He was already a friar, and a sort of court jester, but also an intimate friend to the Medici Pope Leo X. He held the role under three popes until his death in 1531, when Sebastiano succeeded him. [7]
Several British officials have titles connected to the keeping of seals.
| Title | Seal | Current Holder | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lord High Chancellor Lord Keeper of the Great Seal | Great Seal of the Realm | The office today is primarily concerned with the administration of the courts, and is linked by constitutional convention to the office of Secretary of State for Justice; all Justice Secretaries since the creation of the office have also been appointed Lord Chancellor. Prior to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the office had had substantial legislative, executive, and judicial power; the Act stripped the Lord Chancellor of non-executive functions (besides sitting in Parliament when held by an MP or a Peer entitled to a seat in the Lords). The office's responsibilities had previously not only been those of the chief administrator of the court system but also of presiding officer of the House of Lords (succeeded in that capacity by the Lord Speaker) and of a judge or judge-like position on several judicial bodies. | Shabana Mahmood |
| Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal | Privy Seal of England | One of the nine Great Officers of State. Today this a sinecure office used to bring a person into the British Cabinet as a Minister without Portfolio. Until the English Reformation this was usually held by a bishop, the change being marked by Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, after his daughter Anne Boleyn became Queen. | The Baroness Smith of Basildon |
| Keeper | Great Seal of Scotland | An official entrusted with the Great Seal of Scotland, generally given to holders of Scotland-specific offices. Currently held ex officio by the First Minister of Scotland. The position also grants the First Minister a position in the order of precedence by virtue of his or her position as Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. Before the Scotland Act 1998 created the office of First Minister, the position of Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland was generally given to the Secretary of State for Scotland. | John Swinney |
| Keeper | Great Seal of Northern Ireland | A title previously held by the Governor of Northern Ireland from 1922 until 1973 when it was presented to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. | Hilary Benn |
| Keeper | Welsh Seal | An office created by the Government of Wales Act 2006 that is held ex-officio by the First Minister of Wales. It grants the minister an official position for purposes of the Order of Precedence. No Welsh Seal had previously existed since those used by the native Princes of Wales. | Eluned Morgan |
| Keeper | Privy Seal of Scotland | An honour traditionally given to a Scottish Peer, vacant since 1922. | vacant |
| Keeper | Great Seal of Cornwall | Held by the Chancellor of Cornwall. Appointed by the Duchy of Cornwall, vacant since 1867. | vacant |
| Keeper | Privy Seal of Cornwall | Appointed by the Duchy of Cornwall, vacant since 1933. | vacant |
The United States Secretary of State is the official keeper of the Great Seal of the United States, [8] and the seal may only be affixed to instruments as provided by law or by authorization of the President. [9] The authority to manage the operation of the device is delegated to an official at the State Department. This official is the Director of the Office of Presidential Appointments, the office that manages the Great Seal at the Department of State. Informally, the director is sometimes referred to as the “Keeper” in the sense that the job has been delegated. [10]
Unlike the Great Seals listed above, the Great Seal of the United States is the primary graphical emblem of the United States and is used equivalently to a coat of arms.
The seals of individual U.S. states are typically the responsibility of the State Secretary of State.
A notary public of the common law is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with general financial transactions, estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business. A notary's main functions are to validate the signature of a person ; administer oaths and affirmations; take affidavits and statutory declarations, including from witnesses; authenticate the execution of certain classes of documents; take acknowledgments ; provide notice of foreign drafts; provide exemplifications and notarial copies; and, to perform certain other official acts depending on the jurisdiction. Such transactions are known as notarial acts, or more commonly, notarizations. The term notary public only refers to common-law notaries and should not be confused with civil-law notaries.
The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is the minister of justice for the whole United Kingdom and the highest-ranking Great Officer of State in Scotland and England, nominally outranking the prime minister. The lord chancellor is appointed and dismissed by the sovereign on the advice of the prime minister. Prior to the union of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain, there were separate lord chancellors for the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland. Likewise, the Lordship of Ireland and its successor states maintained the office of lord chancellor of Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, whereupon the office was abolished.
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title or status to a person or corporation. Letters patent can be used for the creation of corporations, government offices, to grant city status or coats of arms. Letters patent are issued for the appointment of representatives of the Crown, such as governors and governors-general of Commonwealth realms, as well as appointing a Royal Commission. In the United Kingdom, they are also issued for the creation of peers of the realm.
A great seal is a seal used by a head of state, or someone authorised to do so on their behalf, to confirm formal documents, such as laws, treaties, appointments and letters of dispatch. It was and is used as a guarantee of the authenticity of the most important and solemn records and documents.
The Great Seal of Canada is a governmental seal used for purposes of state in Canada, being set on letters patent, proclamations and commissions, both to representatives of the monarch and for the appointment of cabinet ministers, senators, and judges. Many other officials, such as officers in the Canadian Armed Forces, receive commissions affixed with the Privy Seal, not the great seal. It is not for sealing up a document as letters close. As a de facto symbol of Canada the seal is one of the oldest and most honoured instruments of the Canadian government.
The Great Seal of the Realm is a seal that is used to symbolise the sovereign's approval of state documents. It is also known as the Great Seal of the United Kingdom. To make it, sealing wax is melted in a metal mould or matrix and impressed into a wax figure that is attached by cord or ribbon to documents that the monarch wishes to seal officially. The formal keeper of the seal is the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.
Sebastiano del Piombo was an Italian painter of the High Renaissance and early Mannerist periods famous as the only major artist of the period to combine the colouring of the Venetian school in which he was trained with the monumental forms of the Roman school. He belongs both to the painting school of his native city, Venice, where he made significant contributions before he left for Rome in 1511, and that of Rome, where he stayed for the rest of his life, and whose style he thoroughly adopted.
With the constitutional reform of 1848, the privileges of the dutch noble were abolished and the nobles lost their constitutional roles. The only privileges that the former Dutch nobility were alllowed to keep were the legal use of titles and the grant of coats of arms by royal decree. The former noble lost their status of being a noble, they became civilians with a noble title.
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands, officially the High Council of the Netherlands, is the final court of appeal in civil, criminal and tax cases in the Netherlands, including Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Aruba. The Court was established on 1 October 1838 and is located in The Hague.
The registrar general of Canada is responsible for registering all letters patent, commissions, instruments, proclamations, and any other documents that may, from time to time, be issued under the Great Seal of Canada or the Privy Seal of Canada. The current registrar general is François-Philippe Champagne.
Registers of Scotland (RoS) is the non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government responsible for compiling and maintaining records relating to property and other legal documents. They currently maintain 21 public registers. The official responsible with maintaining the Registers of Scotland is the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. By ex officio, the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland is also the Deputy Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. The Keeper of the Registers of Scotland should not be confused with the Keeper of the Records of Scotland.
A heraldic authority is defined as an office or institution which has been established by a reigning monarch or a government to deal with heraldry in the country concerned. It does not include private societies or enterprises which design and/or register coats of arms. Over the centuries, many countries have established heraldic authorities, and several still flourish today.
The study of Dutch heraldry focuses on the use of coats of arms and other insignia in the country of the Netherlands. Dutch heraldry is characterised by its simple and rather sober style, and in this sense, is closer to its medieval origins than the elaborate styles which developed in other heraldic traditions.
The coat of arms of The Hague is the official symbol of the city of The Hague.
The Hof van Holland, Zeeland en West-Friesland was the High Court of the provinces of Holland, West Friesland and Zeeland, instituted as a separate entity of the government of the Counties of Holland and Zeeland in 1428, under the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands, and continued with little change under the Dutch Republic, Batavian Republic, and the Kingdom of Holland, until its dissolution in 1811 by the First French Empire. It should not be confused with the Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland which was the supreme court, founded in 1582 by the States-General of the Netherlands and intended for the entire Dutch Republic. The Hof was in practice the main Appellate court in Holland and Zeeland, and in number of cases-handled the most important in the entire Dutch Republic and its Precedents played an important role in the development of Roman-Dutch law, which is still influential in Southern Africa.
The coat of arms of Enkhuizen has been the coat of arms ever since Enkhuizen received borough rights in 1355. The coat of arms was acknowledged in 1816 by the High Council of Nobility, the coat of arms has not been changed ever since.
The Letters Patent Constituting the Office of Governor-General of New Zealand is a royal decree and a part of the uncodified New Zealand constitution. Sometimes known as the Letters Patent 1983, the instrument has been amended twice since its original issue in 1983. The letters patent—essentially an open letter from Queen Elizabeth II that is a legal instrument—constitutes the office of governor-general as the monarch's representative in the Realm of New Zealand, vests executive authority in the governor-general, establishes the Executive Council to advise the governor-general, and makes provision for the exercise of the governor-general's powers should the office be vacant.
The Crown Office, also known as the Crown Office in Chancery, is a section of the Ministry of Justice. It has custody of the Great Seal of the Realm, and has certain administrative functions in connection with the courts and the judicial process, as well as functions relating to the electoral process for House of Commons elections, to the keeping of the Roll of the Peerage, and to the preparation of royal documents such as warrants required to pass under the royal sign-manual, fiats, letters patent, etc. In legal documents, the Crown Office refers to the office of the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery.
Letters patent, in the United Kingdom, are legal instruments generally issued by the monarch granting an office, right, title, or status to a person. Letters patent have also been used for the creation of corporations or offices, for granting city status, for granting coat of arms, and for granting royal assent.
The coat of arms of Middelburg is a canting coat of arms. It stands for the castle (Dutch: Burcht / Burg) of Middelburg, which was in the middle-ages located between two other castles, Domburg and Souburg. The tower in the coat of arms is also present in the flag of Middelburg. The colours probably originate from the coat of arms of the viscounts of Zeeland, they carried a coat of arms of a golden lion on a red background in the 13th century.
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