Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

CHANCELLOB

193

CHANTER

and vacates bis office with the ministry by which he was appointed. To him belongs the appointment of all justices of the peace throughout the kingdom. Being, in the ear lier periods of English history, usually an ec clesiastic, (for none else were then capable of an office so conversant in writings,) and pre siding over the royal chapel, he became keeper of the sovereign's conscience, visitor, in right of the crown, of the hospitals and colleges of royal foundation, and patron of all the crown livings under the value of twenty marks per annum in the king's books. He is the gen eral guardian of all infants, idiots, and luna tics, and has the general superintendence of all charitable uses, and all this, over and above the vast and extensive jurisdiction which he exercises in his judicial capacity in the su preme court of judicature, of which he is the head. Wharton. CHANCELLOR'S COURTS IN THE TWO UNIVERSITIES. In English law. Courts of local jurisdiction in and for the two universities of Oxford and Cambridge in England. CHANCERY. Equity; equitable juris diction; a court of equity; the system of ju risprudence administered in courts of equity. See COURT OF CHANCERY. CHANGE. 1. An alteration; substitu tion of one thing for another. This word does not connote either improvement or deteriora tion as a result. In this respect it differs from amendment, which, in law, always im ports a change for the better. 2. Exchange of money against money of a different denomination. Also small coin. Also an abbreviation of exchange. CHANGER. An officer formerly belong ing to the king's mint, in England, whose business was chiefly to exchange coin for bull ion brought in by merchants and others. CHANNEL. This term refers rather to the bed in which the main stream of a river flows than to the deep water of the stream as followed in navigation. 55 Iowa, 558, 8 N. W. Rep. 443. The "main channel" of a river is that bed of the river over which the principal volume of water flows. Many great rivers discharge themselves into the sea through more than one channel. They all, however, have a main channel, through which the principal volume of water passes. 81 Fed. Rep. 757. CHANTER. The chief singer in the choir of a cathedral. Mentioned in 13 Eliz. c. 10.

CHANCELLOR OF A CATHEDRAL. ii> English ecclesiastical law. One of the qnatuor persona, or four chief dignitaries of the cathedrals of the old foundation. The duties assigned to the office by the statutes of the different chapters vary, but they are chiefly of an educational character* with a special reference to the cultivation of theol ogy CHANCELLOR OF A DIOCESE. In ecclesiastical law. Is the officer appointed to assist a bishop in matters of law, and to hold his consistory courts for him. 1 Bl. Comm. 382; 2 Steph. Comm. 672. CHANCELLOR OF A UNIVERSI TY. In English law. The official head of a university. Hispiincipal prerogative is to hold a court with jurisdiction over the mem bers of the university, in which court the vice-chancellor presides. The office is for the most part honorary. CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER. In English law. An officer before whom, or his deputy, the court of the duchy chamber of Lancaster is held. This is a special jurisdiction concerning all manner of equity relating to lands holden of the king in right of the duchy of Lancaster. Hob. 77; 3 Bl. Comm. 78. CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQ UER. In English law. A high officer of the crown, who formerly sat in the exchequer court, and, together with the regular judges of the court, saw that things weie conducted to the king's benefit. In modern times, how e\er, his duties are not of a judicial char acter, but such as pertain to a minister of state charged with the management of the national revenue and expenditure. CHANCELLOR OF THE ORDER OF THE GARTER, and other military orders, in England, is an officer who seals the commissions and the mandates of the chapter and assembly of the knights, keeps the register of their proceedings, and delivers their acts under the seal of their order. CHANCELLOR, THE LORD HIGH. In England, this is the highest judicial func tionary in the kingdom, and superior, in point of precedency, to every temporal lord. He is appointed by the delivery of the queen's great seal into his custody. He may not be a Roman Catholic. He is a cabinet minister, a privy counsellor, and prolocutor of the house of lords by prescription, (but not nec essarily, though usually, a peer of the realm,) AM.DICT.LAW—13

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