Definition
A faldstool is a folding seat or portable stool used in ecclesiastical and royal ceremonial contexts. Two distinct but related meanings appear in legal and canonical sources:
1. (Ecclesiastical) A portable folding chair provided for a bishop when officiating at a church other than his own cathedral. As a bishop's authority is ordinarily expressed through his cathedra (his seat in his own cathedral church), the faldstool served as the physical substitute for that seat when the bishop exercised functions outside his own diocese or cathedral.
2. (Coronation/Royal) A specific place or kneeling stool at the south side of the altar in Westminster Abbey at which the sovereign kneels during the coronation ceremony. In this sense it designates not merely a piece of furniture but a defined ceremonial position within the liturgical order of the coronation rite.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A portable, folding chair used by a bishop when away from his throne; also any similar stool used in a divine service such as the coronation of a British monarch.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): A folding stool, or portable seat, made to fold up in the manner of a camp stool; formerly placed in the choir for a bishop when he officiated in any but his own cathedral church.
The common and legal meanings are closely aligned, but legal sources emphasize the coronation usage in a way the general dictionaries do not foreground. The legal significance lies not in the object itself but in what it designates: a constitutionally and ceremonially fixed position in the sovereign's coronation, giving the term a precision in royal constitutional contexts that the ordinary dictionary entry does not capture.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
Foldstool: Bouvier notes "foldstool" as an alternate form, treating the two spellings as equivalent. This is purely orthographic variation, not a substantive distinction.
Why It Matters in Research
Faldstool is one of those terms that surfaces almost exclusively in two narrow research corridors: ecclesiastical law (canon law, church administration, episcopal jurisdiction) and royal constitutional history (the law and ceremony of coronation). Researchers encountering the term in a legal source should determine which context applies before drawing any conclusions.
In coronation and royal constitutional research, the term carries genuine legal weight. The coronation ceremony has been treated by constitutional scholars as a legal act with defined elements, and the spatial arrangement of that ceremony — including the faldstool's position at the south side of the altar — is documented in the Liber Regalis and related sources. Black's and Bouvier's both derive their coronation definition from Wharton's Law Lexicon, so researchers tracing the authority will arrive at a common ancestor.
In ecclesiastical law research, the faldstool's significance connects to questions of episcopal jurisdiction and the distinction between a bishop's ordinary authority in his own see and his authority when officiating elsewhere. A bishop using a faldstool rather than his cathedra is operating outside his ordinary seat of authority — a distinction that could matter in historical disputes over jurisdiction, precedence, or the validity of ordinations and confirmations performed away from the cathedral.
The term is essentially obsolete as active legal vocabulary. It appears in legal dictionaries as a term of art in historical ecclesiastical and constitutional law, not as a concept that generates modern litigation. Researchers should treat it as a finding aid to historical sources rather than as a live legal category.
Historical Dictionary Support
The three source dictionaries tell a slightly different story depending on which meaning they emphasize. Both editions of Black's lead with the coronation/royal definition and attribute it to Wharton, suggesting that for American legal dictionary purposes, the royal ceremonial usage was considered the primary legal meaning. Bouvier is more comprehensive: he gives the ecclesiastical definition first (the bishop's folding seat used outside his own cathedral) and adds the royal definition second, citing "R. & L. Dict." rather than Wharton. Bouvier also notes the variant spelling "foldstool" and the fact that these stools were "sometimes covered with silk or other material," a material detail consistent with their ceremonial function.
None of the legal dictionaries discuss the canonical law underpinning the episcopal usage in any depth, and none link the term to specific provisions of ecclesiastical law. Researchers needing that context will need to go beyond the standard legal dictionaries to sources on canon law and cathedral chapter administration. The Webster's 1913 entry closely tracks the ecclesiastical meaning and credits Fairholt, reflecting the term's broader presence in histories of ecclesiastical furnishings and ritual.
The sources agree on the core object (a folding, portable stool) and on both primary uses. The divergence is one of emphasis rather than definition.
Jurisdictional Note
The term has no meaningful application in American state law. Its legal relevance is confined to English constitutional and ecclesiastical law. Researchers in Commonwealth legal history, particularly those working on English coronation law or the law of the Church of England, will encounter it; American legal researchers will find it only as historical background.