CHANCELLOR OF A DIOCESE is, as legal adviser to the bishop, an ecclesiastical judge, uniting the functions of vicar-general and official principal, appointed to assist the bishop in questions of ecclesiastical law, and hold his courts for him. By an act of Henry VIII. it is provided that he may be a layman, whether married or single, provided he be doctor of the civil law, lawfully create and made in some university. By the canons of 1603 he must be a bachelor of law, at the least, or a master of arts. There are certain cases, however, in which the bishop must sit in person.
For other Chancellors, see UNIVERSITY, EXCHEQUER, LANCASTER (Duchy of).