I’ve seen lovely members arms; members who I assume are Americans. However, thought my way back Yonge family had (complicated) arms; it is my understanding I have no right to use their Yonge arms as mine (but it is ok to display them as their arms; ie. my ancestor’s arms). So as a contemporary American citizen (with allegience to a Constitution that proscribes the establishment of a nobility), what "right" (legal, or otherwise) do I have to personal arms?

focusoninfinity wrote:

I’ve seen lovely members arms; members who I assume are Americans. However, thought my way back Yonge family had (complicated) arms; it is my understanding I have no right to use their Yonge arms as mine (but it is ok to display them as their arms; ie. my ancestor’s arms). So as a contemporary American citizen (with allegience to a Constitution that proscribes the establishment of a nobility), what "right" (legal, or otherwise) do I have to personal arms?

Arms do not confer or infer nobility. You have the right to assume arms just as you have the right to assume a personal logo or to adopt the use of a chop (Chinese seal) as part of your legal signature. If you an demonstrate that you are the descendant of the Yonge whose arms we’re tlaking about, you do have a right to those arms.