What is "lord privy seal"

Keeper \Keep"er\, n.

1. One who, or that which, keeps; one who, or that which, holds or has possession of anything.

2. One who retains in custody; one who has the care of a prison and the charge of prisoners.

3. One who has the care, custody, or superintendence of anything; as, the keeper of a park, a pound, of sheep, of a gate, etc.; the keeper of attached property; hence, one who saves from harm; a defender; a preserver.

   The Lord is thy keeper.
   --Ps. cxxi. 6.

4. One who remains or keeps in a place or position.

   Discreet; chaste; keepers at home.
   --Titus ii.

5. 5. A ring, strap, clamp, or any device for holding an object in place; as:

   1. The box on a door jamb into which the bolt of a lock protrudes, when shot.

   2. A ring serving to keep another ring on the finger.

   3. A loop near the buckle of a strap to receive the end of the strap.

6. A fruit that keeps well; as, the Roxbury Russet is a good keeper. Hence: Anything perishable that remains in good condition longer than usual. -- Downing.

7. An iron bar that is placed on the poles of a horseshoe magnet, and held in place there by the magnetic force, to preserve the strength of the magnet when not in use.

   Keeper of the forest (O. Eng. Law), an officer who had the principal government of all things relating to the forest.

   Keeper of the great seal, a high officer of state, who has custody of the great seal. The office is now united with that of lord chancellor. [Eng.]

   Keeper of the King's conscience, the lord chancellor; -- a name given when the chancellor was an ecclesiastic. [Eng.]

   Keeper of the privy seal (styled also lord privy seal), a high officer of state, through whose hands pass all charters, pardons, etc., before they come to the great seal. He is a privy councillor, and was formerly called clerk of the privy seal. [Eng.]

   Keeper of a magnet, a piece of iron which connects the two poles, for the purpose of keeping the magnetic power undiminished; an armature; called also keeper.

The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is the fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain. The office is one of the traditional sinecure offices of state. Originally, its holder was responsible for the monarch's personal (privy) seal (as opposed to the Great Seal of the Realm, which is in the care of the Lord Chancellor). Today, the holder of the office is invariably given a seat in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

Though one of the oldest offices in government anywhere, it has no particular function today because the use of a privy seal has been obsolete for centuries; thus the office has generally been used as a kind of Minister without Portfolio. Since the premiership of Clement Attlee, the position of Lord Privy Seal has frequently been combined with that of Leader of the House of Lords or Leader of the House of Commons. The office of Lord Privy Seal, unlike those of Leader of the Lords or Commons, is eligible for a ministerial salary under the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975. The office does not confer membership of the House of Lords, leading to Ernest Bevin's remark on holding this office that he was "neither a Lord, nor a Privy, nor a Seal".

During the reign of Edward I, prior to 1307, the Privy Seal was kept by the Keeper of the Wardrobe. The Lord Privy Seal was the president of the Court of Requests during its existence.

Lord Privy Seal may refer to:

• Lord Privy Seal, a cabinet office in the United Kingdom, and the Kingdom of England prior to the Acts of Union 1707
• Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland
• Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan
• A disparaging term in the British television industry for a practice identified by a sketch on The Frost Report