Titles for sale
Don-S-S
without further comment at this stage.
From: The Baronage Press <edi...@baronage.co.uk>
Subject: The Feudal Herald, April 2000, SPECIAL EDITION
X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000
The FEUDAL HERALD
The Online Newsletter from The Baronage Press
featuring Heraldry and related subjects
Vol. II, No. 4. April 2000
The Baronage Press Website
may normally be reached directly at
http://www.baronage.co.uk
To read this newsletter on the Website, you can go,
eventually,
after the attempts to suppress our publication have
failed, to
http://www.baronage.co.uk/nl/nl-02-04.htm
************************************************************
********
Copyright (c) 2000 by Pegasus Associates Ltd and The
Baronage Press
Information on subscription is given at the foot of this
newsletter.
Readers wishing to unsubscribe may do so quickly and
easily.
************************************************************
********
CONTENTS
* A Welcome to this Special Edition
* Suppression of Free Speech
* The Scam We Condemned
* Fair Comment Stifled
* Support Welcomed - 1
* Support Welcomed - 2
* Support Welcomed - 3
* Subscription
************************************************************
********
************************************************************
********
A WELCOME TO THIS SPECIAL EDITION
The usual purpose of this newsletter is to link regular
BARONAGE
readers to those articles in the magazine that might
interest them,
so in it you would find mention of the art, symbolism and
meaning of
heraldry, and, from time to time, of the history, politics,
warfare,
chivalry, books, cinema and other entertainment to which
heraldry
has thematic links.
But as we began to write this newsletter, on the last day
of April,
certain pages of the March-April issue of the BARONAGE
magazine had
been rendered inaccessible by our ISP. And as we write now
on this
third day of May, the whole of the Baronage magazine is
offline.
This April edition of THE FEUDAL HERALD is thus a special
edition
to explain why you cannot, as we write, read the BARONAGE
magazine
online.
鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃
鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃�鬃
SUPPRESSION OF FREE SPEECH
Our ISP moved to protect itself when threatened with a writ
by one
of the companies selling bogus titles of dignity. Regular
readers
will know that we advise those who wish to buy titles to be
very
wary of "titles" offered for sale on the Internet. A
minority may
be genuine, but do not necessarily fulfil the aspirations
of their
buyers. The majority are not titles of the kind their
advertisers
hope to persuade their buyers to believe they are, which is
to say
in this case that the "titles" are not titles of dignity,
that they
do not qualify their holders to prefix their names with the
words
Lord or Lady (for example).
As we cannot expect ISPs to have in-house expertise on
feudal and
peerage law, we were initially forced to sympathise with
our own
ISP. The laws governing the responsibility of ISPs for
content
supplied by their customers are still uncertain in their
interpre-
tation, and accordingly our ISP played for safety and
suppressed
free speech. We were at first sympathetic. We had to be.
There
seemed nothing else we could immediately do.
The letter to the ISP, written by the lawyer of the
complainant,
was quite absurd. The words of which complaint was made
were not
specified. Three charges were levelled. Two of these
concerned
the truth of two statements which were in fact not made and
appear
nowhere on the BARONAGE pages. They were doubtless
prompted by
imagination or by guilt. The third alleged breach of
copyright in
that the complainant's logo had been reproduced on the
pages (but
as this was done only to identify clearly the operation we
judge
to be dishonest, and as a logo is designed and used only
for the
purpose of identification, our use of it for this purpose
was no
more a breach of copyright that the mention of the
complainant's
name is a breach of copyright).
THE SCAM WE CONDEMNED
The complainant is MANOR TITLES LIMITED and one of its
operating
arms is LANDED GENTRY TITLES. This is how the operation
works -
1. A manor listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 AD is
checked to
ensure that it is extinct, that no one alive today
exercises its
manorial rights. (Our example here we shall
call "Sinnerston.)
2. Its known history, which may be no more than twenty or
thirty
words, is committed to paper and copyright claimed on the
way in
which it has been set down.
3. The phrase "Lord of the Manor of Sinnerston"
or "Lordship of
the Manor of Sinnerston" is then registered at the Patent
Office
as a trademark and is henceforward described as a "styled
titled
name and legend".
4. Documentation is then prepared for the lawful
conveyancing of
this trademark (sorry - "styled titled name and legend") to
the
first punter who takes a liking to the name of Sinnerston
and who
rather fancies the idea of being the lord of its manor.
5. The operation's website then advertises its offerings
with -
"Become a Lord or Lady of the Manor, and join the Landed
Gentry
Society. Have you ever wished you had been born a Lord or
Lady?
Would you like to be titled? Would you like to call
yourselves
Lord and Lady Yourname?"
- and follows up with -
"Enjoy improved social standing, and even credit rating -
have
your credit card and passport issued in the name of Lord or
Lady
Yourname. People will call you M'Lord or M'Lady, and your
spouse
can benefit too at no extra cost. Business people find the
title
helps attract, impress and retain business. Lord or Lady
Yourname
typed at the foot of a personally signed letter can do
wonders for
your response rate on mailings! Landed Gentry Titles are
heritage
researchers who specialise in ancient feudal titles, and
make them
available by auction."
6. Potential punters are briefed -
"The name 'noble' comes from the belief that they
[noblemen] were
to act in a noble manner."
(And yet these people claim to be historians and scholars!)
"Legend has it that King Richard I (the Lionheart, 1157-
1199) said,
'a true nobleman is measured by his deeds, character, and
honour'.
Acquiring a Manor title of nobility, with such historical
value,
is to preserve the heritage and ideals of a more honourable
era in
history. The restoring, and holding of such titles,
together with
the preservation of their historical importance is indeed
an honour
and a privilege."
(And these historical "titles" of nobility, remember, are
20th-
century trademarks!)
"There are other titles, which incur no cost, but these are
granted
by government or bestowed by Royal decree."
Note the none-too-subtle suggestion of equivalence - there
are just
different sorts of titles, that's all, but they are all
titles!
7. Now the new "Lord of the Manor of Sinnerston" is
hooked. What
does he get for his money?
'Deed of Title' on hand-made papyrus (decorated with wax
seals)
'Title Deed of Assignment' on hand-made papyrus
(decorated with
wax seals)
Deed of Ownership on hand-made papyrus (decorated with
wax seals)
Deed of Certificate on hand-made papyrus decorated with
Family
Seal of Honour and Latin Motto (if found) (decorated with
wax seals)
Domesday Map 1086 A.D showing the Manor (decorated with
wax seals)
[These last three items are all "FRAMED", and, no, we do
not know
what a "Family Seal of Honour and Latin Motto (if found)"
is.]
Solicitor's Legal 'Deed of Title' & 'Deed of Assignment'.
<<
And then the clincher -
"All papyrus documents are treated to give them an aged
antique effect."
8. So what now is this new Lord of the Manor? Guidance is
given -
Correct form of Address: "Arthur John Smith, Lord of the
Manor
of Sinnerston". <<
BUT -
Custom & practice form of address: "Lord Sinnerston or Lord
of Sinnerston". <<
9. And what does all this cost? Well, whatever the market
will
bear seems to be the answer. Prices appear to vary with
the degree
to which the name may be pretty or famous, but are usually
between
US$ 8,000 and US$25,000. (Of course, there are other
sweeteners.
These include the free first-year membership of the Landed
Gentry
Society, so that the new manorial lords may flatter
themselves that
they are members of the British Landed Gentry, the great
untitled
aristocracy of the British Isles. They are most unlikely
to be
embarrassed by meeting real landed gentry at the meetings
of the
Society, but they will be comforted to find there others
who also
bought their "titles".
FAIR COMMENT STIFLED
Everything written in the previous section above either
could be
read on the operation's website or could be easily
deduced. (The
operation has been offline for a few days and may not yet
be back.
Perhaps some pages are being rewritten.) Accordingly,
where the
BARONAGE commentator had merely reproduced the original
text there
could be little to form the substance of a complaint.
However,
the problem for MANOR TITLES LIMITED and LANDED GENTRY
TITLES is
the follow-up -- what BARONAGE publishes which is not and
never
will appear on the MANOR TITLES pages.
First, and perhaps most important (for it is directly
relevant to
the operations of all those selling "titles" on the
Internet), is
that the British Queen is the fons honorum, the fount of
honour,
in her realm. No one else in the United Kingdom may create
lawful
titles of dignity or of honour. That is the law.
Second, directly relevant to MANOR TITLES LIMITED, is that
once a
manor's rights have been extinguished the manor is
extinct. It is
not possible to resuscitate it as a manor by registering
its name
as a trademark.
Third, perhaps rather more difficult for these merchants to
grasp,
is that the feudal laws relevant to manors, although long
defunct
in England, continued in Scotland, and in examining the
parallels
there today (for in early mediaeval times the
terms "barony" and
"manor" were interchangeable) it can be seen immediately
that the
criteria for progress to be perfect (effectively having the
paper-
work of baronies all available and correct to the
satisfaction, in
Scotland, of the Lord Lyon) are not only not being met,
they are
not even understood.
Fourth, the killer, is that even if MANOR TITLES LIMITED
were to
sell genuine manorial titles instead of registered
trademarks in
the masquerade of lordships, the new owners would still not
have
the qualification to call themselves lords and ladies.
That is why the BARONAGE comments had to be stifled.
That is why BARONAGE is currently offline.
What the BARONAGE article had said about the customers
being able
to describe themselves as "Lords and Ladies" was -
In reality, this 'custom and practice' is too modern to
appear
in any reputable "Guide to Titles and Forms of Address" or
in any
published book on etiquette. It is far too modern to
appear in
any literary work ........ It is a very recent and very
dishonest
invention, neither custom nor practice. <<
After that was written, the Editor noticed that we have one
book
which does mention lords of the manor. We had researched
back as
far as Thomas Robson's "Different Degrees of Nobility and
Gentry"
published in 1830 (and he covered everyone from duke down
to the
rank of yeoman with no mention of manorial lords) without
success,
and then in the guide published by the "Who's Who" team he
found:
Lord of the Manor - such lordship confers no rank or title.
<<
So what, you might wonder, does the Government say about
this?
The Central Office of Information wrote, and in 1992 Her
Majesty's
Stationery Office published, under Crown copyright, the
official
guidebook HONOURS AND TITLES (ISBN 011 710 691 8). This
covers
everything from the Royal Family down to the rank of
Gentleman.
In common with all the other reference books we examined
(apart
from the "Who's Who" one), it makes no mention anywhere of
Lords
of the Manor. As a title the phrase is today meaningless.
(Actually, this total absence of any mention in all the
relevant
reference books is more damning than the brief and blunt
verdict
of the "Who's Who" team.)
And the College of Arms, England's foremost authority on
this?
Well, three years ago, John Brooke-Little, CVO, MA, FSA,
then
Clarenceux King of Arms, wrote -
There has been considerable and sustained comment in the
Press,
particularly over the last few months, about Lords of the
Manor.
Many Lords are selling their manors, very occasionally with
vestigial rights and privileges, but usually all that
changes
hands in such sales is a conveyance consisting of a typed
sheet
of paper.
Legal opinion generally supports the contention that such
is a
genuine conveyance of the Lordship of a Manor and entitles
the
purchaser to style himself 'Lord of the Manor of Blank',
and that
is about it. The purchaser may not style himself Lord of
Blank,
as many new Lords of Manors tend to do, nor does it entitle
them
to be granted arms as is often suggested in the Press.
Granting
of arms is a question of personal suitability and integrity
and
is in the nature of an honour, whereas the purchase of a
Lordship
of a Manor confers no honour, nor social recognition now
that the
coinage is so debased; indeed the new 'Lords' as often as
not are
domiciled in the Middle East .......
There was a time when the designation 'Lord of the Manor'
was
included in the description of a grantee of arms, but this
is no
longer done, as it might suggest that the grantee's
possession of
a lordship was a qualification for being granted arms,
which has
never been the case.
It is sad to reflect that a description concerned with the
owner-
ship of land and the administration of justice .......
should have
deteriorated into a folie de grandeur, acquired by the
purchase of
a piece of paper for an absurdly large sum of money. It is
even
more sad that the purchasers should have at the same time
brought
upon themselves the ridicule, scorn and derision rather
than envy
of those who really are the backbone of England. <<
And with that verdict an English King of Arms condemned all
that
this trade in manorial titles uses as its principal selling
points.
The "title" does not confer nobility (of which in the
United King-
dom arms are the ensigns), and its buyer cannot take the
style of
a Lord (and thereby influence headwaiters, airline
stewardesses
and business acquaintances).
And, of course, Clarenceux was discussing genuine manorial
titles,
not registered trademarks.
鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃
鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃�
SUPPORT WELCOMED - 1
Now, as we complete this newsletter, BARONAGE is still
offline and
may remain so for a little while yet. The ISP is caught
between
the devil and the deep blue sea - the threat from the
complainant
on the one hand and the consequences of the breach of our
contract
on the other.
Accordingly, we ask the FEUDAL HERALD readers to forward
this news-
letter to as many of their friends and colleagues as they
believe
might be interested in this subject, or even in just free
speech
and the preservation of fair comment, with the request that
they
in turn should forward it to their friends and colleagues.
If one
punter has his money saved by this, it will be worth the
effort,
but it will also be useful to spread the message as far
around the
Internet as possible, the message that buying "titles" from
these
Internet merchants can create a lot of embarrassment.
Yes, we could "spam" the message, but we condemn spamming.
More-
over, it is far more effective for the message to be passed
between
friends.
鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃
鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃�
SUPPORT WELCOMED - 2
Readers who believe that serious and authoritative
publications,
such as BARONAGE, should be sheltered from arbitrary
closure at
the whim of the scam merchants they criticise, might
express their
views and their support for us, gently, direct to the ISP.
(Be
kind, be very gentle, for, as noted earlier, the ISP finds
itself
in a difficult position.) Your views on the freedom to
publish
fair comment may influence our ISP's lawyers and then
perhaps the
progress of the court case, and then perhaps the
development of
Internet law in respect of the ISPs' responsibilities for
content.
mailto:ka...@ftech.net
鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃
鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃鬃�
SUPPORT WELCOMED - 3
The shutdown has emphasised the value of having readers
subscribe
to this newsletter. We have learned that many find the
presence of
THE FEUDAL HERALD on the website in HTML renders the
plaintext e-
mail version unnecessary, but over a thousand of you still
prefer
to receive it (from the 4,000 per week who visit the
website). As
we intend to continue the campaign against the merchants
exploiting
so scandalously the wide interest in genealogy, heraldry,
peerage
and chivalry, BARONAGE may be closed down again. We hope
that next
time we shall be able to reach more of you directly to
explain the
nature of the problem. So, if you are not already a
subscriber, do
please join our regular readers.
SUBSCRIPTION
To subscribe to this free newsletter, send an e-mail
message to:
The message title is of no importance.
The first line of the message text is: "subscribe
feudalherald"
followed with your first and last names. For example, if
your
name is John Smith, your message would read:
subscribe feudalherald John Smith
(Note the use of lower case.) Nothing else should be
included in
the message text.
To cancel a subscription, send an e-mail to:
The message title is of no importance.
The text of the message must be exactly:
"signoff feudalherald" followed with your first and last
names.
Messages to subs...@baronage.co.uk and
unsub...@baronage.co.uk
are read only by a computer. Any text other than that
given here
will be ignored.
Please copy this subscription information and pass it to
any friend
or colleague you believe might wish to have a free
subscription to
The Feudal Herald.
************************************************************
*******
************************************************************
*******
************************************************************
******
* Sent from AltaVista http://www.altavista.com Where you can also find related Web Pages, Images, Audios, Videos, News, and Shopping. Smart is Beautiful
Patrick Cracroft-Brennan
I was in touch with these people last week. It seems quite deplorable
that their ISP closes down their site on the complaint of an obvious
scam merchant.
What is the world coming to???
In article <13001ab4...@usw-ex0108-062.remarq.com>, Don-S-S
<enquirie...@heraldicgraphics.demon.co.uk.invalid> writes
Patrick Cracroft-Brennan HonFHS FSA(Scot)
Managing Director - Heraldic Media Limited
Publishers of "Cracroft's Peerage"
Tel: 020 8670 3302
Fax: 0870 0522631
E-mail: hme...@kwtelecom.com
Web site: http://hello.to/heraldry
Francois R. Velde
> I was in touch with these people last week. It seems quite deplorable
> that their ISP closes down their site on the complaint of an obvious
> scam merchant.
> What is the world coming to???
You have to make up your mind. One one hand, you deplore the lack of libel
laws in the US comparable to those in the UK. On the other hand, strong libel
laws means that it is easy to intimidate with the threat of a libel suit
(which is why, in the US, libel laws are seen as inimical to free speech).
--
François R. Velde
ve...@nospam.org (replace by "heraldica")
Heraldica Web Site: http://www.heraldica.org/
Bryan J. Maloney
> (which is why, in the US, libel laws are seen as inimical to free speech).
They are not seen as inimical in and of themselves, they are seen as a
necessary evil.
--
"Before we judge the lobotomist of old too severely, we
should go to the nearest street grate and see how we are
dealing with our mental health crisis today."