Peer of the Realm
Encyclopedia
Peer of the Realm is a term for a member of the (aristocratic) highest social order (not considering the ruling dynasty) in a kingdom, notably:
- a member of the peeragePeerageThe 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...
(noble and equivalent titles granted by the British crown; actually there are several peerage systems, such as the peerages of England, of Ireland, of Scotland, of the UK) - the English rendering a member of a similar order in another realm, especially the French title pairPairieThe French word pairie is the equivalent of the English word peerage, in the sense of an individual title carrying the rank of Pair , which derives from the Latin par 'equal', and signifies the members of an exclusive body of noblemen and prelates, considered to be the highest social order -not...
as used in the French kingdom and the crusader state kingdom of Jerusalem - nobility proper of the Polish-Lithuanian CommonwealthPolish-Lithuanian CommonwealthThe Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
who enjoyed hereditary paritas. Those who would sit on hereditary basis in Land Parliaments, or be royal electors, enjoy personal immunity, and the right to be judged only by the King's court or the court of peers. Also the exclusive right to be granted state or Land dignities and titles. The Skartabelli who were middle-nobility by law were not peers. Nobles who were not direct barons of the Crown but held land from other lords were not peers de facto as they would not enjoy full noble privileges.