History is full of a noble selling their title. For example, Juan Carlos II is the Byzantium Emperor because the title in pretence was sold to the then Spanish king. Do British peerages work the same way? For example, could Peregrine Cavendish sell me his title and thereafter I would legally be Cad, Duke of Devonshire?
No. A British title is an entailed ‘property’ (in the sense that a college degree, the Keys to the City, etc., are ‘property’) and cannot be alienate by sale or gift by its holder. If he divests himself of it, or tries to, it passes to the next heir in line.
No. Hereditary peerages can only be disclaimed in limited circumstances (after a year has elapsed from succession or from the peer’s 21st birthday, it’s impossible), and they can’t pass to anyone else in that process (the peerage exists without a holder until the death of the person who disclaimed it, at which point it goes on as if nothing had ever happened).
Theoretically no as the above posters have said. Practically, Titles were given for a multitude of reasons and patronage and bribery* were and remain two of them, though not the only or most common.
- I use bribery in it broadest sense, including to obtain favour and influence.
I think that most people on the board now don’t actually read the column.
[quote=“Polycarp, post:2, topic:604903”]
No. A British title is an entailed ‘property’…/QUOTE]
Does that mean one has to come out of a particular vagina to be entitled to that property?
The “tail” you are thinking of is a Germanic noun, coming into English from Old Norse. The “tail” in “entailed” is a Romance adjective, most often used in the phrase “fee tail”, coming into English from Anglo-Norman French. Same spelling, quite different meaning.
Whatever you said…
All humans who resort to royal claims for superiority are the scum trash of humanity.
Maybe, but that’s sort of beyond the scope of the question, isn’t it?
No, it isn’t.
“British title” means that some human being should be treated in a special manner because he came out of a particular vagina.
That’s just stupid, if not insane.
And it has nothing to do with the willingness of people to worship any object or after-birth bio-waste they are told is “superior” to them.
That is inaccurate. History is replete with examples of people who earned their titled, despite coming out of the “wrong vagina”. The first Duke of Wellington earned nearly every title the artisrocarcy has to give and he came out of the wrong vagina or perhaps from the right vagina at the wrong time.
No it doesn’t. You’re referring to the increasingly archaic notion of hereditary titles. Cecils’ column above gives the example of “Nat Wei, a social activist and reformer, [who] was named Baron Wei of Shoreditch”. Like the great majority of members of the House of Lords, he was not born into a title, and his children will not inherit a title.
Use Deed Poll, or whatever your local process is, to change your first name to Lord. Then change your bank cards and other ID to reflect your new first name.
According to some sites, owning land in Scotland, even if it only involves buying a square foot of land, entitles you to call yourself Laird.
Sincerely,
Laird spotthegerbil of 537 Wallace Avenue, Inverness. 
My middle name is Laird, so I don’t even have to buy any land, just not use my first name!
yrs.
Laird Meurglys of Edinburgh
While it is no doubt great fun for you to type the word “vagina”, British titles are typically inherited from one’s father [ETA: or other male relative], not one’s mother.
“Worship”? “Superior”?
Can you name one single person in Britain who worships titled people? Just one; you don’t have to list all 60-million Britons.
Oddly enough, according to the UK Adoption site, adopted children are **not **eligible to inherit peer titles, so **Naxos’ **point does stand in a small way. (Which doesn’t do anything to counteract the threadshit nature of his posting.)
Odd, that. I would have expected the opposite, actually.
Except for Our Lord Jesus Christ.