Primus inter pares

Primus inter pares^[1] (Ancient Greek: Πρῶτος μεταξὺ ἴσων, prōtos metaxỳ ísōn) is a Latin phrase meaning first among equals. It is typically used as an honorary title for those who are formally equal to other members of their group but are accorded unofficial respect, traditionally owing to their seniority in office.^[2] Historically, the princeps senatus of the Roman Senate was such a figure and initially only bore the distinction that he was allowed to speak first during debate. Also, Constantine the Great was given the role of primus inter pares. However, the term is also often used ironically or self-deprecatingly by leaders with much higher status as a form of respect, camaraderie, or propaganda. After the fall of the Republic, Roman emperors initially referred to themselves only as princeps despite having power of life and death over their "fellow citizens". Various modern figures such as the Chair of the Federal Reserve, the prime minister of parliamentary regimes, the Federal President of Switzerland, the Chief Justice of the United States, and the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church fall under both senses: bearing higher status and various additional powers while remaining still merely equal to their peers in important senses.

National use

Commonwealth usage

Prime minister or premier

In the federal Commonwealth Realms, Canada and Australia, in which Queen Elizabeth II is head of state as constitutional Monarch, a Governor General as viceroy is appointed by the Queen in Council to represent the Queen during her absence. The Governor-General typically appoints the leader of the political party holding at least a plurality of seats in the elected Legislature to be prime minister, whose relationship with the other Ministers of the Crown is primus inter pares, or "first among equals". This is also done at the provincial or state level, wherein the Lieutenant Governors of the Canadian Provinces or Governors of the Australian states as Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council appoints the leader of the provincial or state political party holding at least a plurality of seats in the elected provincial or state legislature to be provincial premier or state premier.

Federal and provincial or state viceroys in Canada and Australia

As federations, in Canada, lieutenant-governors represent the Queen of Canada in each of the provinces, thus acting as the "heads of state" in the provinces. And, unlike in Australia with the governors of the Australian states, the lieutenant-governors in Canada are not appointed by the Queen-in-Council, but by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister of Canada, known as the Governor-in-Council – this recognizes structurally the fact that the Australian states, unlike the Canadian provinces, had a previous existence as Crown colonies prior to Australian federation in 1901. Similarly, in Australia, there are governors to represent the Queen of Australia in each of the states of Australia that comprise the federal Commonwealth of Australia, making them "head of state" in each of their own states. In each case, these several governors or lieutenant-governors are not envisaged as subordinate to the governor general – the governor-general of Australia and the governor general of Canada – as a federal viceroy – is "first among equals".^[3]

Germany

Mayors of German city states have traditionally acted as primus inter pares. In Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen, which had been Free Imperial Cities from the times of the Holy Roman Empire, the government was called Senate and the mayor was one senator amongst many, often referred to as President of the Senate rather than Mayor. This ended in Lübeck with the incorporation into Prussia in 1937, while in a constitutional reform in 1996 the mayor of Hamburg was given broad powers to shape the politics of the Senate of Hamburg, thus ending his status as primus inter pares. However, in the city state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, which was created after the Second World War, the mayor has had a similar role in the Senate of Bremen. The same was true until 1995 for the Governing Mayor of Berlin among his colleagues within the Senate of Berlin.

Japan

Starting with the Meiji Constitution of 1885, as part of the "Cabinet System Act", and lasting until the revision of the modern constitution in 1947, the Prime Minister of Japan was considered to be of the same rank as the other ministers who formed the Cabinet. During this time, the Prime Minister was referred to as "同輩中の首席" dōhai-chū no shuseki ("chief among peers").

Netherlands

The Prime Minister of the Netherlands (officially, the "Minister President") is the chairman of the Council of Ministers and active executive authority of the Dutch government. Although formally no special powers are assigned, the Prime Minister functions as the "face" of the cabinet of the Netherlands. Usually, the prime minister is also Minister of General Affairs. Until 1945, the position of head of the Council of Ministers officially switched between the ministers, although practices differed throughout history. In 1945, the position was formally instituted. Although not formally necessary, the Prime Minister in practice is the leader of the largest party in the majority coalition in the House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament.

Switzerland

In Switzerland the seven-member Federal Council constitutes the government. Each year, the Federal Assembly elects a President of the Confederation. By convention, the positions of President and Vice President rotate annually, each Councillor thus becoming Vice President and then President every seven years while in office.

The President is not the Swiss head of state, but he or she is the highest-ranking Swiss official. He or she presides over Council meetings and carries out certain representative functions that, in other countries, are the business of the Head of State. In urgent situations where a Council decision cannot be made in time, the President is empowered to act on behalf of the whole Council. Apart from that, though, the President is a primus inter pares, having no power above and beyond the other six Councillors.

United Kingdom

The term "Prime Minister" can be compared to "primary minister" or "first minister". Because of this, the Prime Ministers of many countries are traditionally considered to be "first among equals" – they are the chairman or "head" of a Cabinet rather than holding an office that is de jure superior to that of ministers.

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has frequently been described as "first among equals". In the UK, the executive is the Cabinet, and during Hanoverian times a minister had the role of informing the monarch about proposed legislation in the House of Commons and other matters. In modern times, however, although the phrase is still used, it understates the powers of the Prime Minister, which now include many broad, exclusive, executive powers over which cabinet members have little influence.

First Among Equals is the title of a popular political novel (1984) by Jeffrey Archer, about the careers and private lives of several men vying to become British Prime Minister. It was later adapted into a ten-part miniseries, produced by Granada Television.

Countries and jurisdictions that have adapted the British parliamentary system (such as Canada and Australia) would have the same use for the phrase.

United States

The phrase "first among equals" has also been used to describe the Chief Justice of the United States. The Chief Justice has considerable administrative powers, and can assign the writing of decisions in cases in which he is in the majority, but has no direct control over the decisions of his colleagues on the Supreme Court of the United States. This situation is often found in supreme courts around the world.

Chairmen

In many private parliamentary bodies, such as clubs, boards, educational faculty, and committees, the officer or member who holds the position of chair or chairman is often regarded as a "first among equals". That is, while most rules of order will grant the chair special powers within the context of a meeting, the position of chair is usually temporary, rotating, and powerless in other contexts, making the occupant merely a temporary leader required to instil order. This is the case for mayors under a council–manager government, as the "mayor" has the same vote as all other council members and cannot override them, although their opinion may have more sway among other members.

Religion

Eastern Orthodox Church

The phrase "first among equals" is also used to describe the role of the Patriarch of Constantinople, who, as the Ecumenical Patriarch, is the first among all the bishops of the Eastern Orthodox Church. He has no direct jurisdiction over the other patriarchs or the other autocephalous Orthodox churches and cannot interfere in the election of bishops in autocephalous churches, but he alone enjoys the right of convening extraordinary synods consisting of them (and/or their delegates) to deal with ad hoc situations, and he has also convened well-attended Pan-Orthodox Synods in the last forty years. His title is an acknowledgement of his historic significance and of his privilege to serve as primary spokesman for the Eastern Orthodox Communion. His moral authority is highly respected.

The Eastern Orthodox Church also uses the term "first among equals" in regard to the Bishop of Rome.^[4] Whereas the Patriarch of Constantinople is now considered first among the Orthodox patriarchs, the Orthodox Church considers the Bishop of Rome (regarded as the "Patriarch of the West") the "first among equals" in the Pentarchy of the Patriarchal Sees according to the ancient, first millennial order (or "taxis" in Greek) of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, established after Constantinople became the eastern capital of the Roman/Byzantine Empire.^[4][5] The Bishop of Rome no longer holds this distinction in the Orthodox Church because, following the East–West Schism, he is no longer in communion with the Orthodox Church.^[6]

Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic Churches consider the Pope to be the Vicar of Christ, successor of Saint Peter, and leader of the bishops, successors of the Apostles. As such, these Churches do not see the Pope as being "first among equals," but as actually holding an office above that of other bishops. This jurisdictional claim was one of the main causes of the East-West Schism in the Church, which became formal in 1054. The Dean of the College of Cardinals in the Catholic Church is generally considered to be the first among equals in the College.

Anglican Communion

In the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury is considered to be "first among equals" in his presidency over the Communion.^[7] The senior bishop of the seven diocesan bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church bears the truncated title Primus from primus inter pares. Leading bishops, or primates in other Anglican churches are often said to be primus inter pares within their provinces.

Based on the antiquity with which ecumenical councils have conceded some kind of universal primacy to the Bishops of Rome, participants in Anglican–Catholic dialogues have acknowledged for decades that the Pope would properly serve as the titular leader of a reunited church; the Anglicans typically have in mind an honorary (non-jurisdictional) primacy such as the phrase "primus inter pares" implies. In one example of such acknowledgement, the International Anglican-Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission, in its 2007 agreed statement Growing Together in Unity and Mission, "urge[s] Anglicans and Catholics to explore together how the ministry of the Bishop of Rome might be offered and received in order to assist our Communions to grow towards full, ecclesial communion."

Presbyterianism

The Moderator of the General Assembly in a Presbyterian church is similarly designated as a primus inter pares. This concept holds also for the Moderators of each Synod, Presbytery, and Kirk Session. As all elders are ordained – some for teaching and some for ruling, none sit in higher status, but all are equal behind the one and only head of the church Jesus Christ. ^[8]

Church of Sweden

In the Church of Sweden, the Archbishop of Uppsala is considered primus inter pares.^[9]

See also

• Animal Farm, a George Orwell dystopian novel published in 1945, where the motto 'All are equal, but some are more equal than others.' is a variant on this theme.

References

1. Grammatically, the expression refers to a single male figure. A female would be prima inter pares and the plurals of both forms would be primi inter pares and primæ inter pares. in the nominative case and primos inter pares and primas inter pares in the accusative. All these forms are exceedingly rare in English usage, however.
2. Hutchinson Encyclopedia. "Primus inter pares" . 2007. Hosted at Tiscali. Archived November 29, 2005, at the Wayback Machine.
3. Government House
4. Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church (Oxford: Penguin, 1993), 214–17.
5. Ecclesiological and Canonical Consequences of the Sacramental Nature of the Church: Ecclesial Communion, Conciliarity and Authority (The Ravenna Document), Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Church, 13 October 2007, n. 35.
6. http://orthodoxwiki.org/Primus_inter_pares
7. (from the official Anglican Communion website)
8. Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter XXV, article vi https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Confession_of_Faith_of_the_Assembly_of_Divines_at_Westminster#Chapter_25
9. Church Structures and Regulations (from the official Church of Sweden website)