Chancellor

Various governments have a Chancellor who serves as some form of junior or senior minister.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, a number of cabinet ministers hold offices containing the word Chancellor.

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• The Lord Chancellor (Lord High Chancellor, King's Chancellor) is the occupant of one of the oldest offices of state, dating back back to the Kingdom of England, and older than Parliament itself. Theoretically, the Lord Chancellor is the "Chancellor of Great Britain"; there was formerly an office of "Chancellor of Ireland" which was abolished in 1922, when all but Northern Ireland left the United Kingdom. The Lord Chancellor, the highest non-Royal subject in precedence (with the exception of the Archbishop of Canterbury), fulfills a threefold role:
• He is the de facto speaker of the House of Lords. The House of Lords in theory has no speaker, but as its most senior member, the Lord Chancellor, in full court dress and full bottomed wig, sits on the Woolsack and "presides," but has little actual authority. In practice, deputies often preside instead.
• The Lord Chancellor is the head of the judiciary. Formerly, the Lord Chancellor was the sole judge in the Court of Chancery. Since that court has been combined with others to form the High Court, the Lord Chancellor has served as the head of the Chancery division, but that role has been delegated to the Vice-Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor is also permitted to participate in judicial sittings of the House of Lords; he also chooses the committees that hear appeals in the Lords. The latter role is in practice fulfilled by the Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. The current Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, has indicated that he does not desire to take part in the House's judicial business in the interests of separation of powers.
• Head of the Department for Constitutional Affairs (formerly the Lord Chancellor's Department), as the head of which he sits in the Cabinet.
• Chancellor of the Exchequer, the minister with overall responsibility for the Exchequer or Treasury. This, too, is an ancient title dating back to the Kingdom of England. It is roughly the equivalent of the Minister of Finance or Secretary of the Treasury in other governmental systems. In recent years, when the term "Chancellor" is used in British politics, it is taken as referring to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. As Second Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor has an official residence at Number 11, Downing Street, next door to the First Lord of the Treasury, the Prime Minister, at 10 Downing Street, in London.
• Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, another ancient office of state, the Chancellor being the Minister of the Crown responsible in theory for the running of the Duchy of Lancaster, a duchy in England belonging to the Crown but historically maintained separately from the rest of the kingdom, whose net revenues personally belong to the monarch. In reality, the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, effectively like a chairman of trustees, carries minimal work and responsibilities, so it is used in effect as a Minister without Portfolio position, often given to the chairman of the party in power to give him or her a seat in cabinet.