The Law of Arms - College of Arms

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class="span9">  <div id="system-message-container"> </div> <div class="item-page"> <div class="page-header"> <h1> The Law of Arms </h1> </div> <p>Below are some aspects of the Law of Arms. This page is not, however, intended to be a comprehensive statement of the Law of Arms. </p> <p>Heraldry had international origins in mediaeval Europe. Because of this, heraldry and its Laws are not part of the ordinary common law of England, but are subjects of "civil law", that is governed by a system ultimately derived from the old Roman Law. A separate Court, the Court of Chivalry, described below, has sole jurisdiction in such matters, rather than the more familiar Courts in this country.</p> <h2 style="text-align: justify;">The Descent of Arms</h2> <p class="lead" style="text-align: justify;">The descent of arms in England and Wales is determined by the laws of arms, which normally allow transmission only through the male line. The arms of a man pass equally to all his legitimate children, irrespective of their order of birth.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Cadency marks may be used to identify the arms of brothers, in a system said to have been invented by John Writhe, Garter, in about 1500. Small symbols are painted on the shield, usually in a contrasting tincture at the top. The eldest son (during the lifetime of his father) has a label, a horizontal strip with three pendent drops. The second son has a crescent, the third a mullet, the fourth a martlet, the fifth an annulet, the sixth a fleur de lis, the seventh a rose, the eighth a cross moline and the ninth a double quatrefoil.</p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;">Heraldic Heiress</h3> <p style="text-align: justify;">Arms are only transmitted through a female line when there is a failure of male heirs. A woman with no surviving brothers, or whose deceased brothers have no surviving issue, is an heraldic heiress. She is not necessarily a monetary heiress. Providing that she marries a man who bears arms, the children of their marriage may include the arms of her father as a quartering in their own shields. This is how elaborate shields of many quarterings come about.</p> <h2 style="text-align: justify;">Arms of Women</h2> <p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="/media/k2/items/cache/184b7cb84d7b456c96a0bdfbbeaa5f14_S.jpg" alt="Arms of Miss Catherine Middleton, before her marriage" width="250" height="333" class="caption" style="float: right;" title="Arms of Miss Catherine Middleton before her marriage" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">A woman may bear arms by inheritance from her father or by grant to herself. She may not use a crest, which was historically considered a male attribute.  </p> <p style="text-align: justify;">When unmarried, she displays her arms on a lozenge (a diamond shape) or an oval. A shield was traditionally seen as a war-like device appropriate to a man.  When married, a woman may unite her arms with those of her husband in what are called marital arms; their arms are impaled, meaning placed side by side in the same shield, with those of the man on the dexter and those of his wife on the sinister. If one spouse belongs to the higher ranks of an order of chivalry, and thereby entitled to surround his or her arms with a circlet of the order, it is usual to depict them on two separate shields tilted towards one another, termed accoll茅. A married woman may also bear either her own arms or her husband's arms alone on a shield with a small differencing mark to distinguish her from her father or husband. Women who are peers in their own right, Ladies Companion of the Order of the Garter, or Dames Granbd Cross may choose to bear their arms on a lozenge regardless of their marital status.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">If the woman is an heraldic heiress, her arms are shown on an inescutcheon of pretence (a small shield) in the centre of her husband's arms.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">When widowed, a woman continues to use her marital arms, but placed on a lozenge or oval.</p> <h2 style="text-align: justify;">The Control of Arms</h2> <p style="text-align: justify;">The granting of arms is part of the prerogative of The Sovereign, from whom the Kings of Arms derive their authority to grant arms. Armorial Bearings in England and Wales derive from the Crown as the fount of honour. In 1417, King Henry V commanded the Sheriffs of Hampshire, Wiltshire, Sussex and Dorset not to allow any men to bear arms on the forthcoming expedition to France unless by ancestral right or by grant from a competent authority. Royal control was firmly established by 1530, when the Visitation Commission directed Clarenceux King of Arms to "reform all false armory and arms devised without authority".</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Control is delegated to the Kings of Arms, or senior heralds, who are Garter, Clarenceux and Norroy and Ulster. They interpret the laws and conventions of arms, and are empowered to grant arms in the name of The Sovereign. Between 1530 and 1689 the Kings of Arms were given Royal Commissions to visit English and Welsh counties, to establish that arms were borne with proper authority. Anyone found using arms without entitlement was forced to make a public disclaimer. Although this system has been discontinued, the Kings of Arms regulate the devising of new arms by ensuring that each design is unique.</p> <p>The Kings of Arms exercise their authority within the laws and conventions of arms, as do the heralds and pursuivants.</p> <p>The Kings of Arms do not have authority to make or to change laws or conventions. They may, within them, and after due deliberation, make certain permissible adjustments to the way arms are granted or displayed, and have done so from time to time, including quite recently in respect to the display of arms by women. They are subject to the supervision of the Earl Marshal, whose licence is required before they may grant arms to anyone, and who may give them directions, including as to how to grant arms generally.</p> <p>Reference to their considering matters of arms or otherwise related to their duties are to be found as early as the now superseded Charter of Richard III (1484), the current Charter of Philip and Mary (1555), in respect of Earl Marshal's and Earl Marshal's Commissioners' Orders of 1568 and 1668 respectively, and in the oaths of Officers of Arms of 1686. No power to change the Laws of Arms has been granted to them however.</p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;">Court of Chivalry</h3> <p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="/images/Court.jpg" alt="The Court of Chivalry" width="400" height="305" class="caption" style="float: right;" title="The Court of Chivalry in session in the Earl Marshal's Court at the College of Arms. A print after Rowlandson and Pugin, 1808" />The <a href="/resources/court-of-chivalry">Court of Chivalry</a> has had sole jurisdiction over cases of misuse of arms since the 14th century. It is a civil court, with the Earl Marshal as the sole judge from 1521. The best known medieval action was Scrope v Grosvenor (1385-1390), in which Sir Richard le Scrope was held to have a prior claim to the simple arms <strong>azure a bend or</strong>. The most recent case was Manchester Corporation v Manchester Palace of Varieties (1954), when a theatre was successfully sued for illegal display of the arms belonging to the corporation.</p> </div>  </div> <div id="aside" class="span3">  <div class="well "><div class="page-header"><strong>Our Resources </strong></div><ul class="category-module mod-list"> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/architecture">Architecture of the College</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/arms-of-her-majesty-queen-camilla">Arms of Her Majesty Queen Camilla</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/bibliography-of-present-officers">Bibliography of Present Officers</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/court-of-chivalry">Court of Chivalry</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/crests-of-knights-of-the-garter">Crowns and Crests: Heraldry in the Round</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/ecclesiastical-hats">Ecclesiastical Hats: Anglican Communion</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/ecclesiastical-hats-roman-catholic-church">Ecclesiastical Hats: Roman Catholic Church</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/faqs">FAQs: heraldry</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/flag-flying-days-2024">Flag Flying Days 2024</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/flag-flying-news-by-email">Flag-flying news by email</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/flags-on-churches">Flags on churches</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/impaling-arms-of-office">Impaling Arms of Office</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/peerages-and-baronetcies">Peerages and Baronetcies</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/peerages-and-baronetcies/proving-succession-to-a-baronetcy">Proving succession to a Baronetcy</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/peerages-and-baronetcies/proving-succession-to-a-peerage">Proving succession to a Peerage</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/peerages-and-baronetcies/recent-peerage-successions">Recent Peerage Successions</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources">Resources</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/peerages-and-baronetcies/roll-of-the-baronetage">Roll of the Baronetage</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/roll-of-the-peerage">Roll of the Peerage</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/royal-cyphers">Royal Cyphers</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/same-sex-marriages">The Arms of Individuals in Same-Sex Marriages</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/duke-and-duchess-of-cambridge">The conjugal arms of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title active" href="/resources/the-law-of-arms">The Law of Arms</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/union-flag-approved-designs">Union Flag: approved designs</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/union-flag-faqs">Union Flag: FAQs</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/peerages-and-baronetcies/what-is-recorded-in-the-roll-of-the-peerage">What is recorded in the Roll of the Peerage</a> </li> </ul> </div>  </div> <div aria-label="Breadcrumbs" role="navigation"> <ul itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/BreadcrumbList" class="breadcrumb"> <li> You are here:   </li> <li itemprop="itemListElement" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ListItem"> 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