In Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, the name used for the titled and untitled nobility. The term, derived from the French, remains in use in grants of arms from the Court of the Lord Lyon

Court of the Lord Lyon

The Court of the Lord Lyon, also known as the Lyon Court, is a standing court of law which regulates heraldry in Scotland. Like the College of Arms in England it maintains the register of grants of arms, known as the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland, as well as records of...

, the Scottish king of arms

King of Arms

King of Arms is the senior rank of an officer of arms. In many heraldic traditions, only a king of arms has the authority to grant armorial bearings. In other traditions, the power has been delegated to other officers of similar rank.-Heraldic duties:...

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While the word "Nobility" is now generally used in the English language only for the Peers (Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Viscounts, Barons) and maybe also the Baronets and Knights, all with a "Sir" title, it actually includes also the "untitled" to whom rightly belong the ranks and titles of "Esquire" (not given just as a courtesy to any person from letter writers) and "Gentleman" in the nobiliary sense. The minor nobility is in Scotland often referred to by the French word "Noblesse". In Scotland all legal armorial bearings have by warrant from the Lord Lyon King of Arms been entered in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland and are officially "Ensigns of Nobility", and without such legal Arms it is practically impossible to prove one's nobiliary status. (Cf: Innes of Learney, Sir Thomas (Lord Lyon King of Arms): Scots Heraldry, 2nd ed. [1956] p. 20f; 3rd ed. [1978] p. 13.)