ARMS, COAT OF

Arms, Coat of: translation

Her. The heraldic insignia or *bearings of a king, or *knight, or of a family granted such hereditary devices. To bear arms it was necessary to inherit or receive a grant from the king or a *herald, or proof was required of an ancestor's use of the arms from 'time immemorial', which in common law began in 1189, but in the law of arms in 1066.

Cf. Arms, College of; Arms, King of