Chancellor is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the audience. A chancellor's office is called a chancellery or chancery. The word is now used in the titles of many various officers in various settings. Nowadays the term is most often used to describe:
The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minister for the Cabinet Office. The role includes as part of its duties the administration of the estates and rents of the Duchy of Lancaster.
In the United Kingdom, the Judge Advocate General and Judge Martial of all the Forces is a judge responsible for the court-martial process within the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force. As such the post has existed since 2008; prior to this date the Judge Advocate General's authority related to the Army and the RAF while the Judge Advocate of the Fleet was the equivalent with regard to the Royal Navy.
A high sheriff is a ceremonial officer for each shrieval county of England and Wales and Northern Ireland or the chief sheriff of a number of paid sheriffs in U.S. states who outranks and commands the others in their court-related functions. In Canada, the High Sheriff provides administrative services to the supreme and provincial courts.
The Chancellor of the High Court is the head of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. This judge and the other two heads of divisions sit by virtue of their offices often, as and when their expertise is deemed relevant, in panel in the Court of Appeal. As such this judge ranks equally to the President of the Family Division and the President of the Queen's Bench Division.
Sir Timothy Andrew Wigram Lloyd, PC is an English former judge who was a member of the Court of Appeal.
There are various levels of judiciary in England and Wales—different types of courts have different styles of judges. They also form a strict hierarchy of importance, in line with the order of the courts in which they sit, so that judges of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales are generally given more weight than district judges sitting in county courts and magistrates' courts. On 1 April 2020 there were 3,174 judges in post in England and Wales. Some judges with United Kingdom-wide jurisdiction also sit in England and Wales, particularly Justices of the United Kingdom Supreme Court and members of the tribunals judiciary.
Sir Robert Andrew Morritt, CVO, is a former British judge who served as Chancellor of the High Court of England and Wales.
Sir Richard Rashleigh Folliott Scott, Baron Scott of Foscote, is a British judge, who formerly held the office of Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.
Sir William Milbourne James, was a Welsh barrister and judge. A Chancery specialist, he was appointed to the Court of Chancery of England in 1869. The next year, he was appointed Lord Justice of Appeal in Chancery, serving until his death in 1881.
Michael Townley Featherstone Briggs, Lord Briggs of Westbourne, is a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. He served earlier as a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. By Royal Warrant, he bears the courtesy title of Lord Briggs of Westbourne.
The Chancery Amendment Act 1858 also known as Lord Cairns' Act after Sir Hugh Cairns, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allowed the English Court of Chancery, the Irish Chancery and the Chancery Court of the County Palatine of Lancaster to award damages, in addition to their previous function of awarding injunctions and specific performance. The Act also made several procedural changes to the Chancery courts, most notably allowing them to call a jury, and allowed the Lord Chancellor to amend the practice regulations of the courts. By allowing the Chancery courts to award damages it narrowed the gap between the common law and equity courts and accelerated the passing of the Judicature Act 1873, and for that reason has been described by Ernest Pollock as "prophetic".
The Judges' Council is a body in England and Wales that, representing the judiciary, advises the Lord Chief Justice on judicial matters. It has its historical roots in the original Council of the Judges of the Supreme Court, created by the Judicature Act 1873 to oversee the new Supreme Court of Judicature. This body initially met regularly, reforming the procedure used by the circuit courts, and the new High Court of Justice but met less regularly as time went on, meeting only twice between 1900 and 1907, with a gap of ten years between meetings in 1940 and 1950 respectively. After relative inactivity, it was eventually wound up through the Supreme Court Act 1981, which contained no provisions for its continued existence, something Denis Dobson attributes to newer bodies which performed the duties the Council had originally been created to do.
The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC for legal citation purposes.
Sir Nicholas John Patten is a former member of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.
Sir William Anthony Blackburne is a retired High Court Judge at the Royal Courts of Justice in London who is presently the Chairman of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Blackburne was Called to the Bar in 1966 from Inner Temple, although a year or two later he joined Lincoln's Inn and eventually became a Queen's Counsel in 1984. He practised from 13 Old Square. Blackburne became a High Court judge in the Chancery Division on 1 October 1993 and retired on 27 October 2009. Since retiring Blackburne sat as a High Court Judge on a part-time basis. He also served as Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn.
Sir Robert Henry Thoroton Hildyard, styled Mr Justice Hildyard, is a British High Court Judge.
Andrew James "Jim" Blackett-Ord, CVO was a British barrister and judge. During World War II he was held for two years as a prisoner of war.
Sir Jonathan Frederic Parker is a retired British Lord Justice of Appeal.
Sir Richard Andrew Snowden, PC, styled Lord Justice Snowden, is a Lord Justice of Appeal.
