Assumption of Arms
While in the continent of Europe assumption of arms has mostly remained free, in some countries arms may not be assumed or changed at will. In particular, there is some basis for the claim that it is unlawful to assume arms in England and Wales without the authority of the Crown. This is the view of the College of Arms and is supported by some dicta in court cases, including In re Berens, Ch. 596, 605–06, and Manchester Corporation v Manchester Palace of Varieties Ltd, P. 133 (the only modern decision of the Court of Chivalry). However, there is no holding by a modern court directly on point. For cases considering the question but not deciding it, see Austen v. Collins, 54 L.T.R. 903 (Ch. 1886); In re Croxon, Ch. 252.
However, the assumption of arms has in every age been common, and became particularly so after the College of Arms ceased to obtain warrants to search out the illegal use of armory pro-actively by roving enquiries known as the Visitations, the last of which took place at the end of the seventeenth century. The interpretation and application of modern legal principles (such as freedom of expression) have also influenced this, and the annual tax on coats of arms was repealed in 1945.
Burke’s General Armory (last edition 1884) is said to contain arms attributed to 60,000 families (The Upper Classes; Property and Privilege in Britain J. Scott (1982) p 91). But it has been calculated that there were only 9,458 armigerous families in 1798 (The Nobility of the English Gentry J. Lawrence (1824)) and a total of 8,320 grants of arms made in the 19th century (English Nobility: the Gentry, the Heralds and the Continental Context M J Sayer (1979)), which implies, albeit on an extremely rough and ready basis, about 40,000 assumptions of arms.
Read more about this topic: Law Of Heraldic Arms
Famous quotes containing the words assumption and/or arms:
“The assumption must be that those who can see value only in tradition, or versions of it, deny man’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances.”
—Stephen Bayley (b. 1951)
“The sturdy Irish arms that do the work are of more worth than oak or maple. Methinks I could look with equanimity upon a long street of Irish cabins, and pigs and children reveling in the genial Concord dirt; and I should still find my Walden Wood and Fair Haven in their tanned and happy faces.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)