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The Honourable
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The prefix The Honourable or The Honorable (abbreviated to "The Hon." or formerly "The Hon'ble") is a style used before the names of certain classes of persons.
a class="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m1265185",this)' onMouseout='hide("m1265185")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Australia">Australia, all ministers in Commonwealth, states and the Northern Territory (not including the Australian Capital Territory) governments are entitled to be styled The Honourable.
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The prefix The Honourable or The Honorable (abbreviated to "The Hon." or formerly "The Hon'ble") is a style used before the names of certain classes of persons.
Usage
Australia
In Australia, all ministers in Commonwealth, states and the Northern Territory (not including the Australian Capital Territory) governments are entitled to be styled The Honourable. The exception of the Australian Capital Territory is because they do not have an Executive Council and instead the Commonwealth Minister for Territories exercises that role. Except in New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania, the title is retained for life because it recognises that their appointment to the relevant executive council (when they first become a minister) is an appointment for life, and the person technically remains "an executive councillor-on-call". In New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania the Premier can advise the Queen to grant former ministers the style for life. In the Northern Territory the Chief Minister can request the Administrator to make a recommendation to the Governor General who in turn makes a recommendation to the Queen of Australia. A minimum 5 years' service as a Member of the Executive Council and or as a Presiding Officer is a prerequisite. All such awards are published in the Commonwealth Government Gazette. The presiding officers of the parliaments of the Commonwealth, the states and the Northern Territory are also styled The Honourable but normally only during their tenure of office. Special permission is sometimes given for a former presiding officer to retain the style after leaving the office as is the case in the Northern Territory.
Former Australian members of the Commonwealth Executive Council previously appointed members of the Privy Council are still entitled to be styled The Right Honourable. It has, however, fallen out of practice to appoint Australians to the Privy Council.
Justices of the High Court of Australia, the Federal Court, the Family Court, and the Supreme Courts of all States and Territories are entitled to be styled the Honourable while in office and on retirement. The same is not extended to County or District Court Judges, Magistrates or members of Tribunals in any jurisdiction.
The style "The Honourable" is not acquired through membership of either the House of Representatives or the Senate. A member or senator may have the style if they have acquired it separately, eg. by being a current or former minister. During proceedings within the chambers, forms such as "The honourable Member for ...", "The honourable the Leader of the Opposition", or "My honourable colleague" are used. This is a merely a parliamentary courtesy and does not imply any right to the style.
Traditionally, members of the Legislative Councils of the states were also styled The Honourable. This practice is still followed in New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia and Tasmania. In Victoria, the practice was abolished in 2003.
The Caribbean
Members of the Order of the Caribbean Community are entitled to be styled The Honourable for life.
In Puerto Rico, much like the continental United States, the term "honorable" (in Spanish) is used, but not required by law, to address Puerto Rican governors as well as city mayors, members of state and municipal legislatures and judges.
Members of The Barbados House of Assembly are styled The Honourable.
Canada
In Canada, the following people are entitled to the style The Honourable (or l'honorable in French) for life:
In addition, some people are entitled to the style while in office only:
Derivatives include:
- The Honourable Mr / Madam Justice — Justices of superior courts.
- His / Her Honour Judge — Judges of provincial courts and formerly judges of district or county courts.
It is usual for Speakers of the House of Commons to be made Privy Councillors, in which case they keep the style for life, and provincial Premiers and federal oposition leaders are sometimes also made Privy Councillors.
Members of the Canadian House of Commons and of provincial legislatures refer to each other as "honourable members" (or l'honorable député) but are not entitled to have The Honourable as a prefix in front of their name.
The Governor General of Canada, the Prime Minister of Canada, the Chief Justice of Canada and certain other eminent persons are entitled to the style The Right Honourable for life (or le/la Très honorable in French).
see Styles of Address (Canada) and Style (manner of address)
The Congo
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the prefix "Honorable" or "Hon" is used for members of both chambers of the Parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Informally, senators are sometimes given the higher title of "Venerable".
Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, the prefix "The Honourable" is used for the following people:
Isle of Man
In the Isle of Man, the style The Honourable (often abbreviated to Hon.) is used to refer to a Minister while holding office.
Italy
In Italy the members of both houses of parliament have right to the prefix "onorevole" by law. But in fact it is only used for members of the Chamber of Deputies.
Malaysia
In Malaysia, an elected Member of Parliament or State Legislative Assemblyman will be entitled to be referred to as "Yang Berhormat", which is literally "The Honourable".
New Zealand
In addition to the standard Commonwealth usage, the Speaker of the House of Representatives is entitled to be referred to as "the Honourable".
New Zealand office holders who are "honourable" ex-officio are usually personally granted the style for life as a courtesy when they vacate the office.
Governors-General uses the style upon assuming the office and holds the title for life here after. Former living Governors-General were retroactively appointed if they were not already a holder or a Privy Councillor.
The Philippines
In the Philippines, the style is usually used to give distinction to an elected official from the smallest political unit (the barangay) to the Philippine Senate. In example, a Kagawad (a member of a legislative council) named Juan de la Cruz will be styled the Honorable Juan de la Cruz. A Philippine Senator is also styled with the Honorable(abbreviated as "Hon."), i.e., Hon. Juan Ponce Enrile. Moreover, Judges from the Trial Courts are given the style.
The President of the Philippines, as well as the Vice-President, is usually given the style His/her Excellency.
Private organizations
Private organizations or religious movements sometimes style a leader or founder as The Honourable; e.g. "The Honourable Elijah Muhammad".
The patent of membership presented by The Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels by the Governor of Kentucky refers to the honoree as "Hon. Firstname Lastname".
Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, the following people are entitled to the style The Honourable :
United Kingdom
Entitlement
In the United Kingdom, all sons and daughters of viscounts and barons (including baronies created as life peerages) and the younger sons of earls are styled with this prefix. (The daughters and younger sons of dukes and marquesses and the daughters of earls have the higher style of Lord or Lady before their first names, and the eldest sons of dukes, marquesses and earls are known by one of their father or mother's subsidiary titles.) The style is only a courtesy, however, and on legal documents they are described as, for instance, John Smith, Esq., commonly called The Honourable John Smith. As the wives of sons of peers share the styles of their husbands, the wives of the sons of viscounts and barons and the younger sons of earls are styled, for example, The Hon. Mrs John Smith.
Some persons are entitled to the prefix by virtue of their offices. Rules exist that allow certain individuals to keep the prefix The Honourable even after retirement.
- Judges of the High Court and other superior courts in the Commonwealth (if the judge is a knight, the style Sir John Smith is used socially instead of The Honourable Mr Justice Smith.);
- Members of Commonwealth executive councils and the Canadian Privy Council (and by extension, cabinets);
- Members of legislative councils (or senates) where the legislature is bicameral; and
- Certain representatives of the Sovereign, e.g. Lieutenant-Governors of Canadian provinces.
Many corporate entities are also entitled to the style, for example:
Usage
The style The Honourable is always written on envelopes (where it is usually abbreviated to The Hon), and formally elsewhere, in which case the style Mr or Esq. is omitted. In speech, however, The Honourable John Smith is referred to simply as Mr John Smith.
In the British House of Commons, as in other lower houses of Parliament and other legislatures, members refer to each other as honourable members etc. out of courtesy, despite the fact that they are not entitled to the style in writing. Where a member is a barrister, he will instead be referred to as the learned member.
Where a person is entitled to the prefix The Right Honourable, they will use this higher style instead of The Honourable.
United States
In the United States, the prefix The Honorable is used for some current and, in some cases, former government officials. Though there are few actual legal regulations of the style, it does appear in correspondence regulations and guides to forms of address.
The federal usage is expressed in the United States Department of State correspondence guidelines and includes:
- The President and Vice President of the United States (who are referred to as Excellency when traveling abroad), United States Senators, and United States Representatives, as well as Presidents-, Vice Presidents-, Senators-, and Representatives-elect.
- All federal and state judges, justices of the peace, and magistrates, whether appointed or elected.
- Appointed heads of the federal executive departments (United States Cabinet officers) and Cabinet-level officers, as well as appointed heads of the independent agencies
- Assistants to the President above the rank of "Special Assistant to President"
- Special (or "Personal") Envoys
- Members of federal boards, commissions, and committees
- Most appointees that must be confirmed by the Senate, such as ambassadors of the United States (who are referred to as Excellency when traveling abroad). United States Attorneys are not granted the style, although they are confirmed by the Senate.
- Officers of the House of Representatives and of the Senate (e.g., Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives, Secretary of the Senate
- Heads of legislative agencies, such as the Comptroller General
- Governors, lieutenant governors, statewide elected officers such as the state Attorneys General, and members of a governor's cabinet. In some states, an incumbent governor is also referred to as Excellency by long-established custom or by some legislative or constitutional act.
- Members of state legislatures
- Mayors
Federal usage also notes that the style of "Honorable" is used for life. This would include persons convicted of crimes after leaving office, resigned under a cloud, or who were removed from office (i.e. impeached or recalled).
Some recent editions of Emily Post have disputed the usage for mayors, as a lifetime style, and state officials lesser than a governor. Other experts disagree, stressing "Once an Honorable, always an Honorable." The 1922 edition of Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home noted that a consul (normally not entitled to the style) that was a former Assemblyman would retain the style of "Honorable," as a matter of "right." The 1945 edition did not.
Other sources expand the list of those that are styled "Honorable" even further. Some sources extend it to elected [County (United States)|county officials]] (such as county supervisors or commissioners) , and the presiding officer of local legislative bodies of a municipality, e.g. city council. Still others, notably Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus, extend this down all members of local legislative bodies and city attorneys (though not "Special Assistants to the President"). Webster's also extends the style for life to former elected federal officials. These are at variance with the federal usage, which specifically excludes county and local officials, other than mayors, from the style, but grants it for life more broadly.
In New York City the style seems to have been extended to non-elected department heads.
The style "Honorable" is not a particularly rare style in the United States. In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania alone, even using the conservative "federal usage," there are more than 2,000 positions (inclusive of the members of Congress, state legislators, federal, state, and county judges, along with the more local district justices, and mayors) that would grant the holder the style of "Honorable." The more liberal usage (including county and municipal attorneys, county officeholders, and members of municipal legislative bodies), as seen in Webster, would increase that number to over 13,000 positions. (Note: These figures are exclusive of former officeholders.)
The style "The Honorable," or the abbreviation of "Hon." is used on envelopes when referring to the individual in the third person, i.e. in a formal introduction. It generally is not used with an additional style or title, such as Dr. or The Reverend, though it can be used with post-nominal letters (e.g., "The Hon. John H. Sununu, Ph.D." Other modifiers ("The Right Honorable," "The Most Honorable") are not used in American practice.
A spouse of someone with the style of "The Honorable" receives no additional style, unless personally entitled to the style. The wife of former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, Michele Ridge, does not receive the style, even though her husband has held various offices (governor, U.S. Representative, Secretary of Homeland Security, and assistant to the president) that would grant the style for life under all usages. The wife of current Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Marjorie Rendell, is a federal judge, appointed years prior to Rendell's election as Governor, and is styled "The Honorable."
In the State of Texas, licensed attorneys and counselors at law are entitled to be referred to as "the Honorable" while practicing before the bar, however, they do not use the style outside of court unless they are otherwise entitled to it.
Aside from the prefix "The Honorable," the spoken form of address, "Your Honor," is used when addressing judges, justices, and magistrates (who are addressed as such when presiding in court). Mayors who have or traditionally had a judicial function are also addressed as "Your Honor." When speaking of a judge or mayor in this manner in the third person, "Your Honor" becomes "His/Her Honor." This can be seen in the case of the Mayor of New York City, who is technically a magistrate of the court system. This form has given rise to the rather disparaging variant, "Hizzoner", applied most frequently by city newspapers to the mayors of large U.S. cities.
See also
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