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Aprivy seal is the personal seal of a reigningmonarch, used to authenticate official documents of a personal nature, in contrast to agreat seal, which is used for documents of greater importance.
The Privy Seal ofEngland can be traced back to the reign ofKing John.[1] It has been suggested that it was originally theseal that accompanied the person of the Sovereign, while theGreat Seal was required to remain in theChancery. Eventually, the Privy Seal took on a broader function and was replaced by the Signet as the king's personal seal. TheGreat Seal Act 1884 (47 & 48 Vict. c. 30) effectively ended the use of the Privy Seal in England by providing that it was no longer necessary for any instrument to be passed under the Privy Seal.
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There is also a separate Privy Seal ofScotland, which existed from at least the reign ofAlexander III.
Article XXIV of theTreaty of Union provided that
the Privy Seal ... now used in Scotland be continued But that the said Seals be altered and adapted to the State of the Union as Her Majesty shall think fit And the said Seals and all of them and the Keepers of them shall be subject to such regulations as the Parliament of Great Britain shall hereafter make...
The Seal was last used in 1898 to execute the commission appointing the Rev. James Cooper to aRegius Chair at theUniversity of Glasgow, but has never been abolished. The office ofKeeper of the Privy Seal has not been filled since the death of theMarquess of Breadalbane in 1922.
The "signet or privy seal" of theKingdom of Ireland was a single seal, whereas in England and Scotland thesignet was a separate seal kept by theClerk of the Signet andKeeper of the Signet respectively.Fiants were issued under the privy seal or signet seal by the Keeper of the Signet or Privy Seal to authorise the issue ofletters patent by theLord Chancellor of Ireland under theGreat Seal of Ireland.[2]
| Dates | Holder | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1560–1795 | Secretary of State for Ireland | Held by as a separate office from the Secretaryship under the same letters patent. |
| 22 June 1795 – 1797 | Edmund Pery, Lord Glentworth | WhileThomas Pelham was Secretary of State |
| 24 July 1797–1801 | Robert Stewart, Lord Castlereagh | AppointedChief Secretary for Ireland in November 1798. |
| 12 June 1801–8 May 1829 | Charles Abbot, latterly 1st Baron Colchester | Appointed Chief Secretary in February 1801 and Secretary of State on 12 June 1801. Vacated both when appointedSpeaker of the UK Commons in 1802 but remained Keeper until his death. |
| 8 May 1829–19 October 1922 | Chief Secretary for Ireland | The Chief Secretary wasex officio the Keeper under thePublic Offices (Ireland) Act 1817 (57 Geo. 3. c. 62).[3] |
ThePrivy Seal of Japan is the official seal of theEmperor of Japan. While it is printed on many state documents, it is separate from theState Seal of Japan. The Privy Seal was made from copper beginning in theNara period. After theMeiji Restoration, a new seal was made from stone in 1868. The present seal was made from gold in 1874.
The Seal has been kept by theChamberlain of Japan since 1945, when the office ofLord Keeper of the Privy Seal was abolished. The Lord Keeper was a personal adviser to the Emperor, a position adapted in 1885 from the earlier post ofNaidaijin.