Dominus

Lat. In feudal and ecclesiastical law. A lord, or feudal superior. Dominus rex; the lord the king; the king's title as lord paramount.

1 Bl. Com. 367. Towns. Pl. 149.

Dominus capitalis; a chief lord. Dominus medius; a mesne or intermediate lord. Dominus ligius; liege lord or sovereign.

1 Bl. Com. 367.

Lord or sir; a title of distinction. It usually denoted a knight or clergyman; and according to Cowell was sometimes given to a gentleman of quality, though not a knight, especially if he were lord of a manor. Spelman, in remarking on the assumption of this divine appellation by human sovereigns, and the higher dignitaries of church and state, takes notice of what he terms the modesty of the ancients in adopting it. As an evidence of this, he mentions the fact that when the christian emperors of Rome came to admit it among their other titles, it was first contracted (by omitting the letter t,) into Domnus.