In Britain the Lord Chancellor is the highest judicial authority. He is about equivalent to the Chief Justice of the United States (commonly called the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court). He is the Keeper of the Great Seal and, more to the point, is Speaker of the House of Lords. Brewer (56) states that the Lord Chancellor "ranks above all peers except princes of the blood and the Archbishop of Canterbury." Duffy (260) informs us that chancellor derives from cancella, the screen from behind which political deliberations were carried out.
Opera:
Act:
Characters