Modern Period
Today, the term armiger is well-defined only within jurisdictions, such as Canada, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom, where heraldry is regulated by the state or a heraldic body, such as the College of Arms, the Court of the Lord Lyon or the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland. A person can be so entitled either by proven (and typically agnatic) descent from a person with a right to bear a coat of arms, or by virtue of a grant of arms to himself. Sharing the family name of an armiger is insufficient.
Anyone may use any coat of arms in jurisdictions that lack regulated heraldry, such as the United States. In the Netherlands, titles of nobility are regulated by law but heraldry is not. In Sweden the nobility has had, since 1762, the prerogative to use an open helmet, while others use a closed helmet.
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