Title of Nobility Law and Legal Definition
Title of Nobility is a clause or a provision in the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 9, Clause 8) that forbids granting certain privileges of nobility to citizens. The provision also restricts members of the government from receiving gifts from foreign countries without the consent of the Congress. The intention behind this clause is to prevent the establishment of a separate class of people in the society as well as to protect the republican forms of government from being influenced by other governments. A similar clause in Article I of the U.S. Constitution forbids states also from granting titles of nobility. The constitution does not expressly prohibit any citizen from accepting a title of nobility from a foreign country. The Title of Nobility clause is sometimes called the Emolument Clause.
