nonpeerage

Nonpeerage refers to the status of individuals who do not hold a rank within the legally defined peerage of a country, most often the United Kingdom. The peerage comprises five ranks—duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron—each conferring a peer title and historically, a seat in Parliament. Those outside the peerage are commonly described as commoners and do not sit in the Lords by virtue of noble title alone.

The non-peer category includes people who hold non-peerage honours (for example knighthoods and baronetcies) as well as those with no aristocratic title at all. Knights and baronets are not peers, though their titles are hereditary in the case of baronets. The term is primarily descriptive and constitutional rather than a separate legal class; many non-peers may be influential in politics, society, or governance without holding a peerage. Heirs to peerages may use courtesy titles but remain non-peers in terms of the actual peerage until they inherit.

In modern usage, "nonpeerage" appears mainly in historical, genealogical, or sociological contexts to contrast with the aristocracy. The concept also surfaces in comparative discussions of noble systems in other countries. The term emphasizes the difference between the formal ranks of the peerage and the broader population. See also: peerage, baronetcy, knighthood.