Esquire is a term of West European origin (ultimately from Latin
scutarius in the sense of shield bearer via Old French "esquier"). Depending on the country, the term has different meanings. In Britain and Ireland, it is a title of respect previously accorded to gentlemen of higher social rank but which has since come to be used, with no precise significance, as a general courtesy title for any man in a formal context. Esquire is
cognateIn linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
with the word
squireThe English word squire is a shortened version of the word Esquire, from the Old French , itself derived from the Late Latin , in medieval or Old English a scutifer. The Classical Latin equivalent was , "arms bearer"...
, which originally meant an apprentice or assistant to a
knightA knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
. The title "Esquire" has been used continuously since it was created in the distant past in Europe and many uses continue un-interrupted today. For example, in the
Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of JerusalemThe Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
, "Esquire" is the most junior title.
In the United States, the suffix Esq. most commonly designates individuals licensed to practice law, and may be used by both men and women.
History
Chief Justice CokeSir Edward Coke SL PC was an English barrister, judge and politician considered to be the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Born into a middle class family, Coke was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before leaving to study at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the...
(1552-1634) defined "gentlemen" as those who bear
coat armourA coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
, and are therefore superior to esquires. He followed Sir
William CamdenWilliam Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
(1551-1623,
Clarenceux King of ArmsClarenceux King of Arms is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Clarenceux is the senior of the two provincial kings of arms and his jurisdiction is that part of England south of the River Trent. The office almost certainly existed in 1420, and there is a fair degree of...
), who defined esquires as:
- the eldest sons of knights and their eldest sons in perpetuity,
- the eldest sons of younger sons of peers and their eldest sons in perpetuity,
- esquires so created by the king,
- esquires by office, such as justices of the peace and those holding an office of trust under the crown.
Nineteenth century tables of precedences further distinguished between
esquires by birth and
esquires by office (and likewise for
gentlemen). Today, however, the term gentleman is rarely found in official tables of precedence and when it is invariably simply means a man. One extinct English usage of the term was to distinguish between men of the upper and lower gentry, who were "esquires" and "gentlemen" respectively (between, for example, "Thomas Smith, Esq." and "William Jones, Gent."). A late example of this distinction is in the list of subscribers to
The History of Elton, by the Rev. Rose Fuller Whistler, published in 1892, which clearly distinguishes between subscribers designated
MrMR, Mr, mr, or mR may refer to:*Mr. an honorific title of menPlaces:* Morocco country code * Martinique country code...
(another way of indicating gentlemen) and those allowed
Esquire.
According to one typical definition, esquires in English law included:
- The eldest sons of knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
s, and their eldest sons in perpetual succession
- The eldest sons of younger sons of peer
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
s, and their eldest sons in perpetual succession (children of peers already had higher precedence)
- Esquires created by letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
or other investiture, and their eldest sons
- Esquires by virtue of their offices, as Justices of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
and others who bear any office of trust under the CrownThe Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
- Esquires of knights constituted at their investiture
- Foreign noblemen
- Persons who are so styled under the Royal sign manual
The royal sign manual is the formal name given in the Commonwealth realms to the autograph signature of the sovereign, by the affixing of which the monarch expresses his or her pleasure either by order, commission, or warrant. A sign-manual warrant may be either an executive actfor example, an...
(officers of the Armed ForcesThe British Armed Forces are the armed forces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.Also known as Her Majesty's Armed Forces and sometimes legally the Armed Forces of the Crown, the British Armed Forces encompasses three professional uniformed services, the Royal Navy, the...
of or above the rank of Captain in the ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
or its equivalent)
- Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
s (but not SolicitorSolicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
s)
A slightly later source defines the term as
However, formal definitions such as these were proposed because there was, in reality, no fixed criterion distinguishing those designated Esquire: it was essentially a matter of impression as to whether a person qualified for this status.
William SegarSir William Segar was a portrait painter and officer of arms to the court of Elizabeth I of England who became Garter King of Arms under James I....
, Garter King of Arms (the senior
officer of armsAn officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions:*to control and initiate armorial matters*to arrange and participate in ceremonies of state...
at the
College of ArmsThe College of Arms, or Heralds’ College, is an office regulating heraldry and granting new armorial bearings for England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
), wrote in 1602: "And who so can make proofe, that his Ancestors or himselfe, have had Armes, or can procure them by purchase, may be called Armiger or Esquier."
Honor military, and civill (1602; lib. 4, cap. 15, p. 228). (By
Armes he referred to a
coat of armsA coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
; it is not clear from this quotation whether Segar made a distinction between esquires and gentlemen.)
Although Esquire is the English translation of the French
Ecuyer, the latter indicated legal membership in the nobilities of
ancien régime France and contemporaneous Belgium, whereas an esquire belongs to the British
gentryGentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....
rather than to its
nobilityNobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
. Ecuyer in French (11th to 14th century) means Horseman, or Squire, i.e. a Knight, or a knight in training (Squire), age 14 to 21.
The most common occurrence of term Esquire today is the conferral as the suffix "Esq." in order to pay an informal compliment to a male recipient by way of implying
gentle birthGentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....
. Today, there remain respected protocols, especially in the United States, for identifying those to whom it is thought most proper that the suffix should be given, especially in very formal or in official circumstances. The social rank of Esquire is that above
gentlemanThe term gentleman , in its original and strict signification, denoted a well-educated man of good family and distinction, analogous to the Latin generosus...
.
Modern British usage
The breadth of
Esquire (as
Esq.) had become universal in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by the late 20th century, for example being applied by some banks to all men who did not have a grander title. Although the
College of ArmsThe College of Arms, or Heralds’ College, is an office regulating heraldry and granting new armorial bearings for England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
continues to restrict use of the word Esquire in official grants of arms to a limited set (smaller even than that outlined by the list above), it uses the term Esquire without restriction in addressing correspondence. Many people in the United Kingdom no longer perceive any distinction between "Mr" and "Esquire" at all so that, in everyday usage, a distinction is very rarely intended.
To be used with the name in initial format (e.g., K.S. Smith, Esq.) it is still used by many offices of the Chairman in business and also many traditional
carriage trade businesses such as
Christie'sChristie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
and Berry Bros. & Rudd. This rather old-fashioned usage is generally employed to imply that the addressee would be of the gentry by the mere fact of the sender's interaction when addressing those without another, higher, rank or title. British men invited to
Buckingham PalaceBuckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
receive their invitations in an envelope with the suffix
Esq. after their names while men of foreign nationalities instead have the prefix
Mr (women are addressed as
Miss,
Ms, or
Mrs). The same practice applies for other post from the palace (e.g., to employees etc.).
Legal profession
In the United States, the suffix
Esq. is most commonly encountered among individuals licensed to
practice lawIn its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professional services of a lawyer or attorney at law, barrister,...
. This usage applies to both male and female lawyers. The term was assumed by the legal profession, and not granted to it by any governmental authority. Some states also address its ministerial officers (such as
justices of the peaceA justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
,
commissioners of deedsA Commissioner of Deeds is an officer having authority to take affidavits, depositions, acknowledgments of deeds, etc., for use in the state by which the person is appointed...
, and
notaries publicA notary public in the common law world is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business...
) using "Esquire" as a suffix.
While it is often claimed that some jurisdictions within the U.S., such as California, expressly indicate that "Esq." is for use by lawyers only in those states, a lay-person using the title "Esquire" may be taken as evidence, but not proof, that someone is falsely claiming to be a licensed member of the bar. For instance, the California State Bar Court case "In the Matter of Wyrick," (Review Dept. 1992) 2 Cal. State Bar Ct. Rptr. 83, concerned a lawyer with a suspended license who signed his name with both the designation "Member of the State Bar" and the title "ESQ." after his name on an application for a law-related job. The mere fact that Wyrick used the designation "ESQ." was not the problem, rather that usage together with the claim to be a member of the state bar and other assertions that gave the implication that he was a licensed lawyer was taken as evidence of misconduct. No court in the United States has ever held that merely using the title "Esquire" is evidence of anything.
A person who engages in the unauthorized practice of law and uses the term "esquire" in a manner "which is reasonably likely to induce others to believe that the person or entity is authorized to engage in the practice of law" may be in trouble. All United States court cases questioning the use of the term "Esquire" involve someone who was actually engaged in unauthorized law practice. No one has ever been prosecuted for using the term "esquire" without engaging in some other conduct that constituted law practice. No court, statute, or rule has ever held that "esquire" means lawyer or that it is restricted for use only by those licensed to practice law. The concern is rather that using "Esquire" in certain circumstances might create the impression that someone is claiming to have an active law license. Even those rules that might be construed to support the contention that "Esquire=Lawyer" are always limited to circumstances where "esquire" is used in such a manner that "the use … is reasonably likely to induce others to believe that the person or entity is authorized to engage in the practice of law."
As a matter of custom, the suffix
Esq. is not used when referring to sitting
judgeA judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
s, who are members of the bench rather than members of the bar, and are prohibited from practicing law in most United States jurisdictions. Judges will generally be referred to with the prefix
The Honorable (abbreviated Hon.) as a title of respect. In some jurisdictions, it is also customary to refer to attorneys who are members of that jurisdiction's bar with the title
Hon. as attorneys are
officers of the courtThe generic term officer of the court applies to all those who, in some degree in function of their professional or similar qualifications, have a legal part—and hence legal and deontological obligations—in the complex functioning of the judicial system as a whole, in order to forge justice out of...
.
These legal associations in America, although strong, have not completely blotted out the unmarked use of "esquire" in the modern British fashion, as an honorific simply an alternative to
MisterMister may refer to:* Mister , a common English language honorific* MISTER, a personal rapid transit system* A device that makes or sprays mist* Mr. Mister, a 1980s pop band* Mister , a Canto-rock band...
(Mr.). In some states, however, using the term deceptively (in a manner that might lead others to assume you are licensed to practice law in that state) can be used as
evidenceThe law of evidence encompasses the rules and legal principles that govern the proof of facts in a legal proceeding. These rules determine what evidence can be considered by the trier of fact in reaching its decision and, sometimes, the weight that may be given to that evidence...
of unauthorized practice of law.
Although many attorneys use the form of address
Esq. when signing correspondence or filing documents with a court, it is usually used only when the reference is in the third person, such as addressing an envelope, making a formal introduction, or on business letterhead. Esq. is never used with any prenominal form of address, such as
Dr.Doctor, as a title, originates from the Latin word of the same spelling and meaning. The word is originally an agentive noun of the Latin verb docēre . It has been used as an honored academic title for over a millennium in Europe, where it dates back to the rise of the university. This use spread...
,
Mr.Mister, usually written in its abbreviated form Mr or Mr. , is a commonly used English honorific for men under the rank of knighthood. The title derived from master, as the equivalent female titles, Mrs., Miss, and Ms, all derived from the archaic mistress...
, or
Ms.Ms. or Ms is an English honorific used with the last name or full name of a woman. According to The Emily Post Institute, Ms...
. Thus,
John Smith, Esq. or
Mr. John Smith would be correct, but
Mr. John Smith, Esq. would be incorrect.
Diplomatic use
Similarly, when addressing social correspondence to a commissioned officer of the
United States Foreign ServiceThe United States Foreign Service is a component of the United States federal government under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of approximately 11,500 professionals carrying out the foreign policy of the United States and aiding U.S...
,
Esquire may be used as a complimentary title. While the abbreviated
Esq. is correct,
Esquire is typically written in full when addressing a diplomat. If any other titles are used on the same line,
Esquire is omitted.
Fraternal groups
Some fraternal groups use the title of Esquire. The
Benevolent and Protective Order of ElksThe Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is an American fraternal order and social club founded in 1868...
uses the title of Esquire for an appointed office position. Similar to the old position of assistant to a knight, the BPOE Esquire serves as the chief assistant to the Lodge's Exalted Ruler, and is in charge of the ballot box, instructing and initiating new members, and examining visiting Elks members. One appendant body in Freemasonry also uses Esquire as a degree title.
Proper use
When addressing a person who has an academic degree or other post-nominal professional designation, such as a
Certified Public AccountantCertified Public Accountant is the statutory title of qualified accountants in the United States who have passed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination and have met additional state education and experience requirements for certification as a CPA...
, a writer should use either the post-nominal designation OR the
Esq. As Esquire is a courtesy title, it should not be used with post-nominals.
India
Before 1947, the term
Esquire was used by most senior government officers, especially the former members of the Indian Civil Service and the rest of the higher services of the Imperial Civil Services. The term was used by members of the anglicised segments of the Indian society who could join the government services. It was mostly used by government officials who could claim to have received their legal education in England, especially in either Oxford or Cambridge University, and had become Barristers in London.