chancellor

views updated May 21 2018

chan·cel·lor / ˈchans(ə)lər/ • n. a senior state or legal official. ∎  the head of the government in some European countries, such as Germany. ∎  the presiding judge of a chancery court. ∎  the president or chief administrative officer of a college or university. ∎  a bishop's law officer. ∎  (Chancellor) short for Chancellor of the Exchequer.DERIVATIVES: chan·cel·lor·ship / ship/ n.

Chancellor

views updated Jun 08 2018

CHANCELLOR

A secretary, secretary of state, or minister of a king or other high nobleman.

The king's chancellor in England during the Middle Ages was given a variety of duties, including drawing up writs that permitted the initiation of a lawsuit in one of the common-law courts and deciding disputes in a way that gave birth to the system of law called equity. His governmental department was called the Chancery.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer in England is like the secretary of the U.S. treasury, but in former times he also presided over a court called the Court of Exchequer, which at first heard disputes over money owed to the king but eventually heard a wide variety of cases involving money. This jurisdiction was founded on the theory that a creditor who could not collect a debt would later be less able to pay whatever he owed to the king.

Chancellor has also been used as the title for a judge who sits in a court of equity, for the president of a university, or for the public official in charge of higher education in some states.

chancellor

views updated May 14 2018

chancellor Chancellor of England, the highest officer of the crown XI; Chancellor of the Exchequer, the highest finance minister XIV; head of a university XIV; diocesan vicar-general XVI; (Sc.) foreman of a jury XVIII. The earliest forms canc(h)eler were succeeded by chanceler, later (XVI) by forms with the substituted suffix -o(u)r. — AN. c(h)anceler, OF. cancelier, (also mod.) chancelier, semi-learned — late L. cancellārius porter, secretary, f. cancellī (see CHANCEL) + -arius -ER 2; the L. word was orig. applied to an officer whose position was ad cancellos at the bars (e.g. of a court).

Chancellor

views updated Jun 08 2018

Chancellor. An administrative officer in a Christian diocese.