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Earl of Erroll

The title Earl of Erroll is an ancient one in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1453 for Sir William Hay.

The subsidiary titles held by the Earl of Erroll are: Lord Hay (created 1449) and Lord Slains (1452), both in the Peerage of Scotland. The Earls of Erroll also hold the hereditary office of Lord High Constable of Scotland. The office was once associated with great power. The Lord High Constable was, after the King, the supreme officer of the Scottish army. He also performed judicial functions as the chief judge of the High Court of Constabulary. The Court, presided over by the Earl or by his deputies, was empowered to judge all cases of rioting, disorder, bloodshed and murder if such crimes occurred within four miles of the King, the King's Council, or the Scottish Parliament. He also held several honourific privileges, such as the right to sit on the right side of the King when he attended Parliament, custody of the keys to Parliament House, the ceremonial command of the King's bodyguards, and precedence above all Scotsmen except the members of the Royal Family and the Lord Chancellor of Scotland. Most of the powers, however, disappeared when Scotland and England combined into Great Britain under the 1707 Act of Union. The office, nonetheless, continues as a ceremonial one.

Earls of Erroll (1453)

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Earl of Erroll".