Наследственные командоры и российские орденские традиции: история и современные претензии.

A Hereditary Commander is a (Knight) Commander whose family holds that title by hereditary right.

The Beneficed Commanderies were weaned of state funds in 1810 (Ukase 24.134. of 1810), their holders being given other posts with comparable compensation, and the affected properties of the Family Commanders were handed back to the families, provided a redemption payment was made (Ukase 24.882. of 1811). The Order's properties were also reclaimed by the state; for example, the Palace of the Sovereign Order of St John of Jerusalem in St. Petersburg was given to the Corps des Pages to serve as a military academy.

Russian Hereditary Commanders, must be confirmed as such under the Russian Laws which gave birth to that category of membership; Ukase 19.044 of 1799 specifies inter alia "5 years of seniority in the Order and 2 years of seniority of military service" in the Order's troops, in other words five years belonging to the Order, and two years military service in the Order. None of the descendants of the Family Commanders in the days of the Empire and into exile qualified in these respects. Even where the candidate is qualified, he must demonstrate that he is the "present representative elder of the masculine posterity of its first beneficiary"; Professor Baron Michel Alexsandrovitch, de Taube. L'Empereur Paul I de Russie, Grand Maître de l'Ordre de Malte, et son Grand Prieuré Russe, Paris 1955, page 50.

In recent years there has been speculation about the demise of the Paris Group, with a question about a possible dormancy of the institution in other words whether a group of individuals could resurrect the institution, and thereby claim to continue it. If done, this would open the way to abuse of claims by such as the self styled "Russian Orders". One group did exactly this in July 2006, connected to the self styled Order the "Sovereign Order of Orthodox Knights Hospitaller Saint John of Jerusaelm" created in 1977 but by so doing leaving themselves open to challenge by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, who have proprietary rights over the phrase "St John of Jerusalem" in France (St Jean de Jerusalem). The original Union ended with the death of its General Secretary General Georges Rticheff in 1975. Following this, the President of the Union, Grand Duke Vladimir (claimant to the throne) authorised a Bailiff of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, to intervene in his "name and to help the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and Malta on any occasions which presents itself to act against the false orders, which, usurping the names belonging to the Sovereign Order of Malta, pretending themselves to be of Russian Imperial origin." The Union Order founded in 1928, was via the Imperial Grand Dukes, Kirill, Alexandre, Andrei and Vladimir of 'Imperial origin'. The self styled Orders claiming the Russian tradition, even with those of Russian descent, are clearly not of 'Imperial' origin.

Similar to those of the Russian Tradition of the Order of St. John, the grade of Hereditary Commander is a traditional entitlement within the Italian Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus. These privileges were suspended in 1851, but restored when the order's constitution was revised in 1985.

In Feudal France, Hereditary Commanders (known in French as Châtelains) who governed castles without resident nobles acquired considerable powers, and the position actually became a hereditary fiefdom.

In Spain during the Middle Ages and the early renaissance, Hereditary Commanders from noble houses were responsible for the managing the defense and leading the military forces of some cities. For example, Don Luis de Soto, was the Hereditary Commander of Cádiz during the British attack on that city in 1625.

Shōgun is a traditional rank and historical title for Hereditary Commanders of military forces in Japan. The Japanese word is made up of two kanji words: shō, meaning "commander", "general", or "admiral", and gun meaning troops or warriors. It is the short form of 征夷大将軍; Sei i Taishōgun, the governing individual at various times in the history of Japan, ending when Tokugawa Yoshinobu relinquished the office to the Meiji Emperor in 1867.