To be valid, a grant of arms must be substantive. Generally speaking substantive grants are made by sovereign entities through the appropriate governmental department. Arms granted by the Lord Lyon and the Chief Herald of Ireland are substantive, as each of these offices are, ultimately, a branch of government.

The exception to grants made by governments are those substantive grants made by private bodies which operate by and with the approval of the government. The College of Arms in England and the now vacant office of Cronista Rey de Armas in Spain are perhaps the best known private bodies engaged in the devisal, granting, and recording of arms.

In both instances the College of Arms and the Office of Cronista Rey de Armas grant without the objection of the head of state. In England the College of Arms is a private body regulated by the Duke of Norfolk. In Spain the modern office of Cronista was created during the period of the Franco government and was, as I understand it, regarded as a department within the Spanish Ministry of Justice.

Every substantive heraldic office records the arms that they grant, although it must be borne in mind that they all follow slightly different procedures in the granting process. This variation of process, allied to the differing social customs between nations, has led some less-than-knowledgeable individuals to suggest that only British or Irish grants were truly substantive. Nothing could be farther from the truth. No heraldic authority has a monopoly of jurisdiction beyond its national borders, although each has the ability to grant arms on a case by case basis "over seas".

As all of North America and South America (with the exception of Brazil) at one time belonged to Spain, the Cronista has quite reasonably included these territories in his "imperial" mandate.

As the current Spanish College of Arms lacks a substantive position vis-a-vis the Spanish government or crown, it functions more along the lines of a graphic design studio which then records their work-for-hire on behalf of their clients.