Lord Lyon on feudal earls, the derbhfine and baronies

The Lord Lyon, David Sellar, has been busy of late, issuing guidance notes on the use of the derbhfine or "family conventions" in determining clan chiefdoms and on baronial additaments and territorial designations in the grant of arms, as well as rejecting a petition to be allowed to use the designation "feudal earl".

All the material is available on the Lyon Court website, as also a note relating to baronies issued in December 2009.  The "feudal earl" decision is a ruling in law that there is no such title, and is a learned disquisition across a whole range of aspects of the subject.  It is understood that there is to be an appeal to the Court of Session.