chancellor

n. prime minister of certain European countries; secretary to a king or other important official; administrative officer of a university (USA); title of certain judges; priest in charge of a chancery (Catholicism)

Chancellor or chancellour (archaic) (Latin: cancellarius) is an official title used by most of the peoples whose civilization has arisen directly or indirectly out of the Roman Empire. At different times and in different countries it has stood for various duties and has been borne by officers of various degrees of dignity. Various governments have a chancellor who serves as some form of junior or senior minister. 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.
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Noun
1. the person who is head of state (in several countries)
(synonym) premier, prime minister
(hypernym) head of state, chief of state
2. the honorary or titular head of a university
(hypernym) principal, school principal, head teacher, head
(classification) United Kingdom, UK, Great Britain, GB, Britain, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

(n.)
A judicial court of chancery, which in England and in the United States is distinctively a court with equity jurisdiction.
  

An officer appointed to preside over a court of chancery, invested with various powers in the several states.

The office of chancellor is of Roman origin. He appears, at first, to have been a chief scribe or secretary, but he was afterwards invested with judicial power, and had superintendence over the other officers of the empire. From the Romans the title and office passed to the church, and therefore every bishop of the Catholic church has, to this day, his chancellor, the principal judge of his consistory. When the modern kingdoms of Europe were established upon the ruins of the empire, almost every state preserved its chancellor, with different jurisdictions and dignities, according to their different constitutions. In all he seems to have had a supervision of all charters, letters, and such other public instruments of the crown as were authenticated in the most solemn manner; and when seals came into use, he had the custody of the public seal.

An officer bearing this title is to be found in most countries of Europe, and is generally invested with extensive authority. The title and office of chancellor came to us from England. Some state constitutions provide for the appointment of this officer, who is by them, and by the law of the several states, invested with power as they provide.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.