Tulang punggung kehormatan (bahasa Latin: fons honorum) merujuk kepada seseorang yang, melalui fungsi jabatan resminya, memiliki hak eksekutif untuk memberikan gelar kebangsawanan dan ordo kesatria sah kepada orang lain.
Pertanyaan apakah sebuah ordo adalah ordo kesagtria atau ordo gelar diri sah ditentukan dalam subyek fons honorum.[1] Tulang punggung kehormatan sah adalah orang atau entitas yang memegang kedaulatan saat ordo tersebut dianugerahkan; mutlaknya, ia adalah otoritas dari sebuah negara, entah itu penguasa monarki atau presiden republik, yang menganugerahi ordo kesatria dari organisasi-organisasi pribadi.[2][3] Orang lainnya, entah orang biasa, kesatria, atau bangsawan, tidak memiliki hak untuk menyematkan gelar kebangsawanan, kesatria atau ordo kesatria terhadap orang lain.[4]
Referensi
^Matikkala, Antti (2008). The orders of knighthood and the formation of the British honours system, 1660-1760. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. hlm. 211–13. ISBN9781843834236.
^Duren, Peter Bander van (1995). Orders of knighthood and of merit : the pontifical, religious and secularised Catholic-founded Orders and their relationship to the Apostolic See. Gerrards Cross: Smythe. hlm. 307–94. ISBN9780861403714.
^Hieronymussen, Paul; Crowley; photographed by Aage Strüwing; (translated into English by Christine) (1970). Orders, medals, and decorations of Britain and Europe in colour (edisi ke-2d). London: Blandford Press. ISBN0713704454. In practice, it may be found that the Royal Knighthoods still extant and the true Orders of Merit are identical, but they can differ in their external presentation. The Order can be either the prerogative of The Sovereign, which means that the reigning member of the Royal House rules the institution as the Master of the Order, or it can be a State institution, the President of the country, as Grand Master of the State Orders, having the final decision in all question concerning the Order.
^McCreery, Christopher (2008). Maple leaf and the white cross : a history of the Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in Canada. Toronto, Ont.: Dundurn. hlm. 26. ISBN9781550027402. Before the Royal Charter of Incorporation of 1888, the Order of St. John had no official status in Britain or throughout the British Empire as an honour. The situation was not unlike that now experienced by bodies using the name designation The Order of St. Lazarus. The Order of St. John was simply a charitable organization that involved itself in the teaching of first aid ambulance duties that happened to have attached to it an order of chivalry; on that was unrecognized by all relevant authorities--the Order of Malta, Papal officials, and, most important, the government of the United Kingdom...The involvement of the Prince of Wales was central in affording legitimacy to the Order as it evolved from what was little more than a private club to an official British order of chivalry engaged in important charitable works
