CONSTABLE, according to some, is a Saxon word, compounded of coming, "king," and staple which signifies the "stay or support of the king." But as we borrowed the name as well as the office of Constable from the French, Sir William Blackstone is rather inclined to deduce it, with Sir Henry Spelman and Dr Covel, from that language; wherein it is plainly derived from the Latin comes stabuli, an officer well known in the empire; so called, because, like the great constable of France, as well as the lord high constable of England, he was to regulate all matters of chivalry, tilts, tournaments, and feats of arms, which were performed on horseback.—The
Lord High CONSTABLE of England is the seventh great officer of the crown; and he, with the earl
marshal of England, were formerly judges of the court of chivalry, called in King Henry IV.'s time Curia Militaris, and now the court of honour. It is the fountain of the martial law, and anciently was held in the king's hall. The power of the lord high constable was formerly so great, and of which so improper a use was made, that so early as the 13th of King Richard II. a statute passed for regulating and abridging the same, together with the power of the earl marshal of England; and by this statute, no plea could be tried by them or their courts, that could be tried by the common law of the realm. The office of constable existed before the Conquest. After the Conquest, the office went with inheritance, and by the tenure of the manors of Harlefield, Newman, and Whitenhurst, in Gloucestershire, by grand serjeanty in the family of the Bohuns earls of Hereford and Essex, and afterwards in the line of Stafford as heirs-general to them; but in 1521, this great office became forfeited to the king in the person of Edward Stafford duke of Buckingham, who was that year attainted for high treason; and in consideration of its extensive power, dignity, and large authority, both in time of war and peace, it has never been granted to any person, otherwise than hac vice, and that to attend at a coronation, or trial by combat. In France, the same office was also suppressed about a century after by an edict of Louis XIII.; though it has been exercised, in the command of the MARSHALS, by the first officer in the army.
Lord high constable of Scotland was an office of great antiquity and dignity. The first upon record is Hugo de Morvelle in the reign of David I. He had two grand prerogatives, viz. First, The keeping of the king's sword, which the king, at his promotion, when he swears fealty, delivers to him naked. Hence the badge of the constable is a naked sword.—Second, The absolute and unlimited command of the king's armies while in the field, in the absence of the king; but this command does not extend to castles and garrisons. He was likewise judge of all crimes committed within two leagues of the king's house, which precinct was called the Chalmer of Peace: though his jurisdiction came at last to be exercised only as to crimes during the time of parliament, which some extended likewise to all general conventions. This office was conferred heritably upon the noble family of Errol, by King Robert Bruce; and with them it still remains, being expressly reserved by the treaty of union.