HL Deb 27 October 1970 vol 312 cc100-1WA
THE EARL OF ARRAN

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether courtesy titles were referred to in any shape or form in the 1963 Peerage Act.

EARL JELLICOE

No.

THE EARL OF ARRAN

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether courtesy titles which eldest sons of Peers are called by custom and long usage in their father's lifetime are affected by their succession to their father's peerage and whether they bear any relation in law to junior peerages of the same name which they renounced on giving up their peerages.

EARL JELLICOE

By courtesy the eldest son of a Duke, Marquess or Earl is known during his father's lifetime by one of his father's subsidiary titles or, where there is no subsidiary title, by one invented for this purpose. On the father's death the substantive titles vest in the son, whose eldest son in turn then comes by courtesy to be known by the lesser title. The courtesy of describing the eldest son in this way during his father's lifetime is not a matter of law.

THE EARL OF ARRAN

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the law of precedence and whether it has any relation in law to courtesy titles.

EARL JELLICOE

Apart from the few instances in which particular kinds of precedence have been prescribed by statute, the Sovereign is the sole source of precedence and no one can enjoy precedence except under the authority of the Crown. The order of precedence and the precedence of individuals may, subject to the statutory provisions, be regulated by the will of the Sovereign expressed in a Warrant or other appropriate instrument. No general order of precedence has been laid down in this way in England and Wales where the matter has been left to rest mainly on custom and usage.

The assumption and accordance of courtesy titles is a matter of usage and not of law.

THE Earl OF ARRAN

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the reference in Section 3(1) of the Peerage Act refers to the Peerage as a whole or merely to Peerages disclaimed.

EARL JELLICOE

Section 3(1) of the Peerage Act 1963 applies to any Peerage to which the instrument of disclaimer relates.