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PRESIDENT (Fr. president, from Lat. p...

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 298 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PRESIDENT (Fr. president, from See also:Lat. praesidens, See also:post-Augustan Lat. for praeses, director, ruler, from praesidere, to sit in front of, preside) , a See also:style or See also:title of various See also:connotation, but always conveying the sense of one who presides. In classical Latin the title praeses, or president, was given to all See also:governors of provinces, but was confined in the See also:time of See also:Diocletian to the procurators who, as lieutenants of the See also:emperor, governed the smaller provinces. In this sense it survived in the See also:middle ages. Du Cange gives instances from the capitularies of See also:Charlemagne of the style praeses provinciae as applied to the See also:count; and laterexamples of praeses, or praesidens, as used of royal seneschals and other officials having See also:jurisdiction under the See also:Crown. In See also:England the word survived See also:late in this sense of royal See also:lieutenant. Thus, See also:John See also:Cowell, in his Interpreter of Words (1607) defines " President " as " used in See also:Common See also:Law for the See also:King's lieutenant in any See also:province or See also:function; as President of See also:Wales, of See also:York, of See also:Berwick. President of the King's See also:Council." In some of the See also:British See also:North See also:American colonies (New See also:Hampshire, See also:Pennsylvania, See also:South Carolina) there was a president of the council, usually elected by the council; and when Pennsylvania and New Hampshire became states, one member of the Executive Council was called president. The See also:chief (and single) executive See also:head in See also:Delaware, South Carolina and New Hampshire (1784–1i92) was called president. During the revolutionary struggle in See also:America from 1774 onwards, the presiding officer of the See also:Continental See also:Congress was styled "President " and when the See also:present constitution of the See also:United States was framed in 1787 (in effect 1789) the title of President was transferred to the head of the Federal See also:government. " President " thus became the accepted style for the elected chief of a See also:modern See also:republic, the example of the United States being followed by the South American republics; by See also:France in 1849, and by See also:Switzerland. In the See also:simple sense of " one who presides " the word " president " preserved its meaning alongside the technical use implying royal delegation. In this sense the New See also:English See also:Dictionary quotes its use by See also:Chaucer (Troylus, iv.

185) in 1374. In ecclesiastical terminology praesidens was sometimes used for the head of See also:

cathedral chapters, instead of See also:dean or See also:provost; and it was sometimes the title given to the See also:principal visitor of monasteries, notably in the reformed See also:congregation of See also:Cluny (Du Cange). In the United See also:Kingdom the heads of many colleges are styled " president," the title being of consider-able antiquity in the See also:case of one See also:college at See also:Cambridge (Queens', founded in 1448) and four at See also:Oxford (St John's, Magdalen, Corpus Christi, Trinity). At five Cambridge colleges (See also:Pembroke, Gonville and See also:Caius, St See also:Catherine's, St John's, Magdalene) the title " president" is See also:borne by the second in authority, being the See also:equivalent of " See also:vice-See also:master." In the United States " president " is the usual style of the head of a college and also of a university wherever this has See also:developed out of a single college. " President " is also the style of persons elected to preside over the meetings of learned, scientific, See also:literary and See also:artistic See also:academies and See also:societies, e.g. the president of the Royal See also:Academy (P.R.A.) in See also:London; the title of the president of the Royal Society (P.R.S.) See also:dates from its See also:foundation in 166o. In the United States the style " president " is also given to the See also:person who presides over the proceedings of See also:financial, commercial and See also:industrial corporations (See also:banks, See also:railways, &c.), in See also:Great See also:Britain usually styled " chairman," but in the case of the See also:Bank of England and certain other banks "See also:governor." In Great Britain the title " president " is also borne by certain ministers of the Crown and certain See also:judges, and preserves some of the See also:ancient connotation of a royal lieutenancy explained above. Thus the style of " president " applied to the heads of the See also:board of See also:agriculture, See also:local government board, board of See also:education, board of See also:trade, &c., which are all committees of the privy council, is derived from that of the See also:lord president of the council, the representative of the king. The presidents of the See also:court of session in See also:Scotland, and of the See also:probate and See also:divorce See also:division, &c. in England, also See also:bear this style ultimately as representatives of the Crown. In France, besides the president of the republic, there are presidents of the See also:senate and of the chamber of deputies. In See also:Germany the word President is used in most of the English senses of " president," e.g. of a See also:corporation, society, See also:assembly or See also:political See also:body. As a judicial title Prasident is confined to the head of any one of the corporations (Kollegien) on the basis of which the judicial See also:system of the See also:empire is organized (Landgericht, Oberlandesgericht, Reschsgericht), and must be distinguished from that of Vorsitzender (literally also praesidens) , i.e. the See also:judge (who may or may not be the Prasident) selected to preside over a division of the court appointed to try particular cases. In See also:Prussia Prasident also retains its old sense of " governor," Oberprasident being the title of the chief of the See also:administration of a province, Prasident that of the head of a government See also:district (Regierungsbezirh).

The consistories of the established See also:

Protestant See also:Church are also presided over by a Prasident, who is a royal See also:official.

End of Article: PRESIDENT (Fr. president, from Lat. praesidens, post-Augustan Lat. for praeses, director, ruler, from praesidere, to sit in front of, preside)

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