he creation of barons was
continued by Louis XVIII., Charles X. and Louis Philippe, and, suspended at
the revolution of 1848, was revived again on a generous scale by Napoleon
III. The tolerant attitude of the Third Republic towards titles, which it
does not officially recognize, has increased the confusion by facilitating
the assumption of the title on very slender grounds of right. The result
has been that in France the title of Baron, unless borne by the recognized
representative of a historic name, not only involves no political status,
but confers also but very slight social distinction.

The same is true, _mutatis mutandis_, of most other European countries, and
notably of Italy. In Austria and Germany the [v.03 p.0423] case is somewhat
different. Though in Latin documents of the middle ages the term _barones_
for _liberi domini_ was used, it was not until the 17th century that the
word _Baron_, perhaps under the influence of the court of Versailles, began
to be used as the equivalent of the old German _Freiherr_, or free lord of
the Empire. The style _Freiherr_ (_liber dominus_) implied originally a
dynastic status, and many _Freiherren_ held countships without taking the
title of count. When the more important of them styled themselves counts,
the _Freiherren_ sank into an inferior class of nobility. The practice of
conferring the title _Freiherr_ by imperial letters was begun in the 16th
century by Charles V., was assumed on the ground of special imperial
concessions by many of the princes of the Empire, and is now exercised by
all the German sovereigns. Though the practice of all the children taking
the title of their father has tended to make that of Baron comparatively
very common, and has dissociated it from all idea of territorial
possession, it still implies considerable social status and privilege in
countries where a sharp line is drawn between the caste of "nobles" and the
common herd, whom no wealth or intellectual eminence can place on the same
social level with the poorest _Adeliger_. In Japan the title baron (_Dan_)
is the lowest of the five titles of nobility introduced in 1885, on the
European model. It was given to the least important class of territorial
nobles, but is also bestowed as a title of honour without reference to
territorial possession.

See du Cange, _Glossarium_, s. "Baro" (ed. Niort, 1883); John Selden,
_Titles of Honor_, p. 353 (ed. 1672); Achille Luchaire, _Manuel des
institutio