chancellor
Pluralchancellors
- 1The head of the government in certain German-speaking countries, such as Germany and Austria.
The German chancellor flew to Paris for talks with the French president.
After weeks of coalition talks, the Bundestag finally elected a new chancellor.
Similarpremier
Note
Which chancellor is meant depends on the country: in Berlin or Vienna the chancellor leads the government, while in London the British finance minister runs the Treasury. Germany's imperial title was Reichskanzler, which English rendered Imperial Chancellor; Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg held it when he answered the Reichstag over the Zabern incident in 1913.
- 2The highest-ranking officer of a university, a post that is in some cases purely ceremonial.
The chancellor handed out diplomas at the spring commencement.
The university's trustees began a national search for a new chancellor.
Similarpresident
Note
How much work the title carries depends on the institution. A ceremonial chancellor may be a public figure busy elsewhere, seen mainly at degree ceremonies; Frederick Douglas How, writing in 1902 of the Marquess of Salisbury, weighed the chancellorship against a prime minister's arduous duties. Elsewhere the chancellor runs the university in earnest.
- 3Short for Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The chancellor will set out his tax plans in the autumn budget.
Downing Street insisted that the prime minister still had full confidence in the chancellor.
Note
British political talk rarely needs the full title: the minister responsible for the economy and the Treasury is simply the chancellor. Before a name it is capitalized as a title, as in Chancellor Philip Hammond; elsewhere it is usually lowercase. It readily takes a possessive, because the prime minister appoints and dismisses the holder: in 2022 Liz Truss sacked Kwasi Kwarteng as her chancellor.
- 4A high-ranking secretary or official with administrative or legal duties, in some cases heading an area of government such as finance or justice.
The king's chancellor drafted the treaty and fixed the royal seal to it.
The Lord Chancellor met with senior judges to discuss delays in the courts.
Note
The general job behind the specific titles: in Middle English a chaunceler was a ruler's chief officer, secretary or scribe, and also an officer of the ruler's exchequer, which foreshadows the British finance minister. In 1533 Stephen Vaughan wrote to Henry VIII of a duke who sent his chancellor to Vaughan's inn to ask why he had come. Fixed titles such as Lord Chancellor keep the sense alive.
- 5The chief judge of a court of chancery, that is, a court that hears and decides cases in equity.
The chancellor granted an injunction that stopped the developer from draining the wetland.
Lawyers for both families argued the estate dispute before the chancellor for three days.
Note
An American chancellor sits wherever equity, the side of the law that can order someone to act or to stop, has a court of its own. John Bouvier's A Law Dictionary (1864) names New York, Virginia and South Carolina as states that gave equity a distinct tribunal and judge. Virginia in the early 1820s had four chancellors serving nine chancery districts.
- 6A senior keeper of a cathedral's records, or a bishop's or diocese's senior legal officer, who hears cases under church law.
The diocesan chancellor ruled that the parish could not remove the old pews without permission.
Historians asked the cathedral chancellor for access to the medieval charters in the archive.
Note
Two quite different church posts share the name. A cathedral chancellor looks after records; a diocesan chancellor is a judge, presiding in the bishop's own court, the diocesan or consistory court. The bishop makes that appointment, and strictly it is to two ancient offices, vicar general and official principal; chancellor is simply what the holder is commonly called.
- 7The member of a jury chosen to lead it and to announce its verdict, known elsewhere as the foreman.
The jury withdrew to choose a chancellor before beginning its deliberations.
When the court reconvened, the chancellor of the jury rose and announced a verdict of not proven.
Similarforeman, foreperson
Note
The usual phrase is chancellor of the jury, and it belongs to Scottish courts. Walter Scott, writing in 1818, has the judge open with "Have you agreed on your chancellor, gentlemen?" and explains that the choice usually fell on the juror of best rank and estimation. The chancellor returns the verdict to the court in the presence of the accused and the whole jury.
Practice
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Origin
From Anglo-Norman or Middle English chaunceler (also chanceler, canceler), from Old French cancelier, chancelier, from Late Latin cancellārius, a secretary or an usher who stood at the bars separating the public from the judges in a court of law. That word comes from Latin cancellī (“bars, railings”), the plural of cancellus, a diminutive of cancer (“grid, barrier”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, turn”). A Late Old English form, canceler, existed but was displaced in the 13th century by the Old French and Anglo-Norman forms.