Where Does "Sergeant at Arms" Come From?

by Karl Kurtz

At a workshop that NCSL conducted recently for members of parliament from Azerbaijan, our visitors had questions about legislative security.  When my colleagues and I began talking about the roles of sergeants at arms, one of the parliamentarians asked, "Where does that term come from?"  We Americans looked blankly at each other and mumbled something about it being a British parliamentary term.

Afterward I looked up the etymology of sergeant at arms.  Dictionaries agree that "sergeant" is derived from the Latin, serviens, meaning serving or servant.  The online Britannica Encyclopedia has the best brief synopsis of the origins of the term:

an officer of a legislative body, court of law, or other organization who preserves order and executes commands. In feudal England a sergeant at arms was an armed officer of a lord and was often one of a special body required to be in immediate attendance on the king’s person, to arrest traitors and other offenders. Through this function, the title of sergeant at arms eventually came to denote certain court, parliamentary, and city officials with ceremonial (and ostensibly disciplinary) functions. Each house of the British Parliament has a sergeant at arms, as does each house of the U.S. ... (100 of 195 words) 

Wikipedia has a lengthier entry, which includes specific references to the roles of sergeants at arms in Canada, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, United States (Congress but not state legislatures) and United Kingdom.

Abraham and Hawtrey's Parliamentary Dictionary elaborates on the ceremonial role of the "serjeant at arms" in the British Parliament:

When the Speaker goes to and from the chamber before and after the sitting he is preceded by the Serjeant carrying the mace on his shoulder.  The same ceremony is observed when the Speaker, with the House, leaves the chamber to proceed elsewhere; for example, to the House of Lords, to attend the Queen at the opening of Parliament or when the royal assent is to be given to bills....

I previously wrote about the similar responsibility of the Virginia House of Delegates sergeant at arms in "The Mace as a Symbol of Authority."

Photo credit: The Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan

Comments

[Carl Barnhart]

Great Article! -
Here is a tid-bit more info on the subject of Sergeat-At-Arms, from the Pa House of Representatives.

Temple University began extensive research in 2002 in preparation for a 2003 Legislative Secruity Officers(LSO)training academy. The below link gives a brief overview of 600 years of Sergeant-At-Arms history from the white paper which was written.

http://www.temple.edu/cjtp/lsotraining3.htm