The Fundamental Constitutions of 1669 included provisions for structuring a colonial nobility. The order of the nobility was to be based on the amount of land an individual had in grants from the Lords Proprietors. All of the territory was to be divided into counties. Each county was made up of eight seigniories (the Lords Proprietors’ domains), and eight baronies (the nobility’s domain).

There were three titles and authorized land amounts for the nobility: a Landgrave was to have 48,000 acres; a Cassique (pronounced: cass - eek'), also spelled Cacique, commanded 24,000 acres; and a Baronet 12,000 acres.

The oldest of the Lords Proprietors, the Palatine, was the supervisor and highest ranking noble. Under the nobility at the base of the social hierarchy were serfs. Tenants and their children were bound to the soil and could move only with the noble’s permission.

The nobility envisioned in the Fundamental Constitutions never materialized. Many reasons may be speculated as the cause, for example, the Lords Proprietors did not live in the colony; they lived in England and were unable to follow up on their design. Also, the New World spirit did not seem consistent with the ideals of a nobility with its potential for repression of lower ranks.

Neither did regular settlement patterns emerge to provide concentrated populations for meaningful recognition of a colonial nobility. Three counties—Berkeley (including present-day Charleston), Craven, and Colleton—were formed in what later became South Carolina, but Craven remained sparsely settled for a considerable length of time. The early county of Albemarle in what is now North Carolina was settled very slowly. These first colonists may have been more interested in making money and enhancing their business reputations than they were in establishing any grand scheme for organizing their society as a nobility and their state to reflect a social caste system for a free citizenry.

In 1705, the Lords Proprietors created another "title" that was higher in status than the Landgrave:

"In order to furnish to these nobles the outward and visible signs of their status, the Lords Proprietors in 1705 appointed Laurence Cromp, Esq., of Worcester to the position of Carolina Herald, with power to grant arms to the Landgraves and Cassiques. Whether Cromp ever made any grant of arms is uncertain, and it is unknown whether the Carolina nobility ever had the opportunity to wear their gold chains or robes of scarlet and gold specified by the document." 

The following two extracts clearly show the various title chains found in many deeds of South Carolina, showing clearly the "pecking order" of who granted the land to whom and in what order:

29 & 30 Sep 1724 Edward Weekley and Elizabeth his wife of Berkeley Co., to Thomas Ellery, gentleman, of Charleston. Whereas John Earl of Bath, Palatine, George Lord Carteret, Sir John Colleton, Baronet & the Lords Proprs. on 16 Aug 1698 impowered the Hon. Joseph Blake, Esq., James Moore, Esq., then Governor, Landgrave Joseph Morton, Landgrave Edmund Bellinger, Robert Daniell & John Ely, Esq., to grant lands...

18 & 19 Jul 1727 Benjamin Waring, of Berkeley Co., SC, to George Smith, for £125, 500, English measure. Whereas the Lords Proprs. of SC granted Robert Daniell a Landgrave's patent with 48,000 acres; & whereas Robert Daniell sold several parcels of land to Landgrave Thomas Smith including 1 tract of 500 acres on W side Wincaw River bounding NE on Wincaw River; SE on George Smith; NW on Edward Hyrne; & whereas Landgrave Thomas Smith on 20 Feb 1718/9 sold the 500 acres to Benjamin Waring; now Waring sells to George Smith. Wit: George Smith, Thomas Smith, Jr., Hugh Wentworth. Before Tweedie Somerville. Jacob Motte, Register.