Michael Butera wrote:

>After reading Alan Moss' enlightening post about the rather complicated
>(at least to me) British titles of nobility, I see why they are proclaimed
>unconstitutional in Article I, Section 9, cl.  8 of the US Constitution.

Menuhin, so much more than a highly gifted musician, in addition to the
highest honours heaped upon him by Britain, was made by France a Grand
Officier de la Legion d'Honneur as well as Commander of the Order of Arts
and Letters, was given by Belgium the Order of Leopold and the Ordre de
la Couronne, by Germany the Knight Commander of the Order of Merit and
the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, by Greece the Royal Order of the
Phoenix, by the Netherlands Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau, and
received in addition countless decorations and high honours from Spain,
Switzerland, Japan, Canada, India and many other countries, as well as
honorary degrees and Fellowships from Oxford, Cambridge, the Sorbonne,
Tokyo and so on, and was showered with Prizes and Medals of the highest
rank, too numerous to mention here, from every corner of the globe.

Yet in the land of his birth, his formative years and his first public
appearances, a system that gives such a man a seat in the legislative
assembly is proclaimed unconstitutional - and we can see why? Beats me!

Alan Moss