The prefix The Honourable or The Honorable (abbreviated to "The Hon." or formerly "The Hon'ble") is a style used before the names of certain classes of persons. It is considered an honorific styling.
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In international diplomatic relations, representatives of foreign states are often addressed as "The Honourable". Deputy Chiefs of Mission, Charges d'Affaires, Consuls-General and Consuls are always given the style. All heads of consular posts, regardless if they are honorary or career postholders, are accorded the title according the State Department of the United States.[1] However, Ambassadors and High Commissioners are never given the style, with the title "Your Excellency" being used.
In Australia, all ministers in Commonwealth and state governments and the government of the Northern Territory are entitled to be styled The Honourable. The Australian Capital Territory does not have an Executive Council (the Commonwealth Minister for Territories exercises that role) and so its ministers are not entitled to the style. Except in New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania, the style is retained for life because it recognises that their appointment to the relevant executive council (when they first become a minister) is an appointment for life and the person technically remains "an executive councillor-on-call". In New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania the premier can advise the Queen to grant former ministers the style for life. In the Northern Territory, the Chief Minister can request the administrator to make a recommendation to the governor general who in turn makes a recommendation to the Queen of Australia. A minimum five years' service as a member of the executive council and or as a presiding officer is a prerequisite. All such awards are published in the Commonwealth Government Gazette. The presiding officers of the parliaments of the Commonwealth, the states and the Northern Territory are also styled The Honourable, but normally only during their tenure of office. Special permission is sometimes given for a former presiding officer to retain the style after leaving the office, as is the case in the Northern Territory.
The style "The Honourable" is not acquired through membership of either the House of Representatives or the Senate (see Parliament of Australia). A member or senator may have the style if they have acquired it separately, e.g. by being a current or former minister. During proceedings within the chambers, forms such as "The honourable Member for ...", "The honourable the Leader of the Opposition", or "My honourable colleague" are used. This is a merely a parliamentary courtesy and does not imply any right to the style.
Traditionally, members of the legislative councils of the states were also styled The Honourable. This practice is still followed in New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia and Tasmania. In Victoria, the practice was abolished in 2003.
Members of the Order of the Caribbean Community are entitled to be styled The Honourable for life.[2]
In Barbados, Members of Parliament of Barbados carry two main titles: Persons in the Barbados House of Assembly are styled The Honourable, while members of the Senate of Barbados are styled Senator. Persons accorded with the Order of Barbados are styled Sir (male), or Dame (female) as a Knight of St. Andrew; or The Honourable as Companion of Honour. Persons made a National Hero or heroine of Barbados are style "The Right Excellent".
In Puerto Rico, much like the continental United States, the term "Honorable" (in Spanish) is used, but not required by law, to address Puerto Rican governors as well as city mayors, members of state and municipal legislatures, judges ande property registrars.
In Canada, the following people are entitled to the style The Honourable (French: l'honorable) for life:
In addition, some people are entitled to the style while in office only:
Derivatives include:
It is usual for speakers of the House of Commons to be made privy councillors, in which case they keep the style for life, and provincial premiers and federal opposition leaders are sometimes also made privy councillors.
Members of the Canadian House of Commons and of provincial legislatures refer to each other as "honourable members" (or l'honorable député) but are not entitled to have The Honourable as a prefix in front of their name.
The Governor General of Canada, the Prime Minister of Canada, the Chief Justice of Canada and certain other eminent persons are entitled to the style The Right Honourable for life (or le/la Très honorable in French).
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the prefix 'Honorable' or 'Hon.' is used for members of both chambers of the Parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Informally, senators are sometimes given the higher title of 'Venerable'.
In Hong Kong, the prefix "The Honourable" is used for the following people:
In the Isle of Man, the style The Honourable (often abbreviated to Hon.) is used to refer to a Minister while holding office.
In Italy the members of both houses of parliament have right to the prefix Onorevole by law. But in fact it is only used for members of the Chamber of Deputies, since a member of the Senate is usually called Senatore (Senator).
In Malaysia, an elected Member of Parliament or State Legislative Assemblyman will be entitled to be referred to as "Yang Berhormat", which is literally "The Honourable".
All members of the House of Representatives of Malta are entitled to this prefix.
In addition to the standard Commonwealth usage, the Speaker of the House of Representatives was entitled to be referred to as The Honourable until 2010, when it was announced that sitting and future Governors-General, Prime Ministers, Chief Justices, and Speakers of the House of Representatives would be entitled to be referred to as The Right Honourable.[4] The Governor-General was entitled to use the style "the Honourable" upon assuming the office and held it for life from 2006[5] until the changes in 2010.
New Zealand office holders who are "Honourable" ex-officio are usually personally granted the style for life as a courtesy when they vacate the office.
In the Philippines, the style is usually used to give distinction to any elected official ranging from the smallest political unit, the barangay, to the Congress of the Philippines, which consists of a Senate and House of Representatives. In an example, a Kagawad (legislative council member) named Juan de la Cruz will be referred to as The Honorable Juan de la Cruz. In written form, the style may be shortened to "Hon." (as in Hon. Juan de la Cruz). Moreover, the Vice President of the Philippines and Judges from the Trial Courts are also addressed in this style.
Meanwhile, the President of the Philippines is usually given the style His/Her Excellency.
Private organisations or religious movements sometimes style a leader or founder as The Honourable; e.g. "The Honourable Elijah Muhammad".
In Sri Lanka, the following people are entitled to the style The Honourable :
In the United Kingdom, all sons and daughters of viscounts and barons (including the holders of life peerages, but not judicial "Lords" who are not peers) and the younger sons of earls are styled with this prefix. (The daughters and younger sons of dukes and marquesses and the daughters of earls have the higher style of Lord or Lady before their first names, and the eldest sons of dukes, marquesses and earls are known by one of their father or mother's subsidiary titles.) The style is only a courtesy, however, and on legal documents they are described as, for instance, John Smith, Esq., commonly called The Honourable John Smith. As the wives of sons of peers share the styles of their husbands, the wives of the sons of viscounts and barons and the younger sons of earls are styled, for example, The Hon. Mrs John Smith.
Some persons are entitled to the prefix by virtue of their offices. Rules exist that allow certain individuals to keep the prefix The Honourable even after retirement.
Many corporate entities are also entitled to the style, for example:
The style The Honourable is always written on envelopes (where it is usually abbreviated to The Hon) and formally elsewhere, in which case the style Mr or Esquire is omitted. In speech, however, The Honourable John Smith is referred to simply as Mr John Smith.
In the British House of Commons, as in other lower houses of Parliament and other legislatures, members refer to each other as honourable members etc. out of courtesy, despite the fact that they are not entitled to the style in writing. When members are barristers they will instead be referred to as the learned member with serving members of the military of the rank of major and above (formerly less of a rarity than today) styled the gallant member.
Where a person is entitled to the prefix The Right Honourable they will use this higher style instead of The Honourable.
In the United States, the prefix The Honorable has been used to formally address various officials at the federal and state levels, perhaps most notably judges. Modifiers such as The Right Honorable or The Most Honorable are not used.
Federal usage dictated by the chief of protocol, an appointed official in the United States Department of State, dictates that the following other officials receive the title:
Federal usage also notes that the style of Honorable is used for life. This would include persons convicted of crimes after leaving office, who resigned under a cloud or who were removed from office through impeachment or recall. [6]
In the Commonwealth of Kentucky, commissioned Kentucky colonels are considered members of the governor's staff and his honorary aides-de-camp, and as such are entitled to the style of Honorable as indicated on their commission certificates. The commission and letters patent granted by the governor and secretary of state bestowing the title of Kentucky colonel refers to the honoree as "Honorable First Name Last Name." However, this style is rarely used with most Kentucky colonels preferring to be referred to and addressed as colonel.
The style The Honorable is used on envelopes when referring to an individual in the third person. It generally is not used with an additional style or title, such as Dr. or The Reverend, though it can be used with post-nominal letters (e.g., The Hon. John H. Sununu, Ph.D.).
A spouse of someone with the style of The Honorable receives no additional style, unless personally entitled to the style. Michele Ridge, wife of former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, does not receive the style, even though her husband has held various offices that would grant the style for life under all usages. Marjorie Rendell, wife of former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, is a federal judge, appointed prior to her husband's election as governor, and is styled The Honorable in her own right.
The spoken form of address Your Honor is used when addressing judges, justices and magistrates as well as some mayors. In third person, Your Honor becomes His/Her Honor.