Faculty, a name formerly applied by philosophers (Reid, Hamilton, &c.) to each of the primary or fundamental powers or functions of the mind. But the view on which this nomenclature was based is rapidly becoming obsolete. According to modern psychology, the mind is a unity, and the so-called faculties are the different specific directions or modes in which its energy works. See PSYCHOLOGY. For the faculty of a university, see UNIVERSITY.
A Grant of Faculty by the Ordinary is an order by the bishop of a diocese to award some privilege not permitted by common law. A faculty is necessary in order to effect any important alteration in a church, such as the erection of a gallery or of an organ. Without a faculty, a person is not entitled to erect a monument within the walls of a church. —The Court of Faculties is a court established by Henry VIII., whereby authority is given to the Archbishop of Canterbury and his successors to grant dispensations and faculties, an authority formerly pertaining to the pope. The sittings of the court have always been held at Doctors' Commons (q.v.). Of late years the court has been chiefly occupied with granting licenses to marry without publication of bans. See ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS, LICENSE, MARRIAGE, DISPENSATION.