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The 'Privy Seal' of England can be traced back to the reign of King John. It has been suggested that it was originally the seal that accompanied the person of the Sovereign, while the Great Seal was required to remain in the Chancery.
Prior to its adoption as the Privy Seal of the United Kingdom after the Act of Union 1707, its most notable appearance in Scottish history was its capture by the Scots in the aftermath of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
The Great Seal Act 1884 effectively ended the use of the Privy Seal by providing that it was no longer necessary for any instrument to be passed under the Privy Seal.
The Privy Seal of England was originally kept by the Controller of the Wardrobe, but by 1323 the distinct office of Keeper of the Privy Seal had emerged. The present-day title of this office, Lord Privy Seal is recorded in 1539.
There was also a separate Privy Seal of Scotland, which existed from at least the reign of Alexander III.
Article XXIV of the Treaty of Union provided that-
:''the Privy Seal ... now used in Scotland be continued But that the said Seals be altered and adapted to the State of the Union as Her Majesty shall think fit And the said Seals and all of them and the Keepers of them shall be subject to such regulations as the Parliament of Great Britain shall hereafter make...''
The Seal was last used in 1898 to execute the commission appointing the Rev. James Cooper to a Regius Chair at the University of Glasgow, but has never been abolished. The office of Keeper of the Privy Seal has not been filled since the death of the Marquess of Breadalbane in 1922.