Lord

In English law

1.

A title of honor or nobility, belonging in strictness to the degree of baron, but applied also to the whole peerage; as in the expression the house of lords.

1 Bl. Com. 396-400. 2.

A title of office; as lord mayor, lord commissioner, &c.

3.

A feudal superior or proprietor; one of whom a fee or estate is held. The fundamental principle of the feudal tenure was that all lands were originally granted out by the sovereign, and are therefore holden either mediately or immediately from the crown. The grantor was called the proprietor or lord, being he who retained the dominion or ultimate property of the feod or fee. Lord is derived from Saxon words signifying a loaf of bread, and to give, because such great men kept extraordinary houses, much out of date, great men being fond of retaining the title, but few regarding the practice for which it was first given; monarcli; governor; master. Encyc. Land. Compare Lady. Lord in gross. He who is lord not by reason of any manor; as the king in respect of his crown, &c. Very lord is he who is immediate lord to his tenant; and very tenant, he who holds immediately of that lord. So that, where there is lord paramount, lord mesne, and tenant, the lord paramount is not very lord to the tenant.

Wharton. Lord-lieutenant. 1.

The viceroy of the crown in Ireland.

2.

The {)rincipal officer of a county, originally appointed for the purpose of mustering the inhabitants for the defence of the country. Lords-lieutenant of counties are supposed to have been introduced about • the reign of Henry