Originally: (a deferential title for) an officer of state acting as administrator of the royal household and subsequently also as head of the judiciary. Later: (the title of) the highest officer of the Crown, responsible for the efficient functioning and independence of the courts, and formerly presiding over the House of Lords, the Chancery Division, or the Court of Appeal. Cf. chancellor n. 2a, Lord High Chancellor n.In the 14th cent., the Lord Chancellor of England began to hear appeals from common law courts, which led to the establishment of the Court of Chancery; the judicial functions of the office developed from this point.The offices of Lord Chancellor of England and Lord Chancellor of Scotland were merged at the union of England and Scotland in 1707, the new office bearing the formal title of Lord Chancellor of Great Britain. The office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland continued to be a separate office after the union of Great Britain and Ireland as the United Kingdom in 1801; it was subsumed into the British office at the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922.The Constitutional Reform Act of 2005 transferred the judicial functions of the Lord Chancellor to the Lord Chief Justice and the new office of Secretary of State for Justice, and the function of presiding over the House of Lords to the separate office of Lord Speaker. Since 2007, the office of Lord Chancellor has been held concurrently with that of Secretary of State for Justice.

Lord ˈChancellorship n. the position or office of Lord Chancellor; (also) the duration of the term of office of a Lord Chancellor; cf. chancellorship n.