Count-palatine

(a.) Formerly the proprietor of a county who possessed royal prerogatives within his county, as did the Earl of Chester, the Bishop of Durham, and the Duke of Lancaster. [Eng.] See COUNTY PALATINE. (b.) Originally, the judge and highest officer of the German kings; afterward of the German emperors and arch-dukes; later still, an officer delegated by the German emperors to exercise certain imperial privileges. [Ger.]