Primate
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
A title by which some of the archbishops in the English church are distinguished. Primate of all England. An ecclesiastical title belonging to the archbishop of Canterbury, who is styled " primate of all England and metropolitan." Anciently, indeed, he had primary jurisdiction, not only over all England, but in Ireland too; and it was from him that the Irish bishops received consecration, for Ireland had no other archbishop till the year 1152; and the archbishop of Canterbury was then denominated or&is Britannici pontifex. But for a long period, up to a recent date, Ireland had four archbishops, one for each of the four provinces of Armagh, Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam, all of whom were distinguished by the title of primate; but, by the recent Stats. 3 & 4 Wm. IV. eh.
37, and 4 & 5 Wra. IV. ch.
90, the number was diminished to two, the two others being reduced to the rank of bishops; and, by a still more recent act (32 & 33 Vict. ch. 42), the entire English hierarchy in Ireland has been abolished. The archbishop of York is sometimes styled primate of England. See Burns Ecd. Law, by Phillimore.