Baron

Baron [fr. beorn, Sax., noble], the fifth and lowest degree of nobility, next to a viscount, and above that of a knight or baronet. In the Salic Law it signifies free-born. The present barons are-(1) By prescription; for that they and their ancestors have immemorially sat in the Upper House.(2) Barons by patent, having obtained a patent of this dignity to them and their heirs, male or otherwise. (3) Barons by tenure, holding the title as annexed to land; it is said that it is the possession of their ancient landed territories which imparts the barony to the bishops, there by giving them a place in the Upper House, although they hold by succession, not by inheritance; but it is rather thought that they sit in the Upper House by immemorial usage.