National Arms, part 1
NATIONAL COAT OF ARMS IRELAND National Arms, or Arms of Sovereignty and Dominion as they are correctly known, differ from other armorial bearings in many respects, and their precise significance should be kept carefully in mind. National Coats of Arms stand, not for any particular area of land, but for the intangible sovereignty vested in the rulers of the land. They properly belong to kingdoms and states and are annexed, as it were, to these but are borne by their representative rulers or heads of state. They are ensigns of public authority and they are not hereditary. They pass by conquest. If a subject should ascend a throne, he would customarily lay aside those arms that had previously been his...