A Topical Dictionary: Search for Magistrate

Dictionary Results For "Magistrate" [?]/[OPML]

Ads By Google

Wiktionary Articles [RSS] - [GNU, www.Wiktionary.org]

English

Pronunciation

Noun

A judicial officer with limited authority to administer and enforce the law. A magistrate's court may have jurisdiction in civil or criminal cases, or both.

Translations

Finnish: raatimies, rauhantuomari
Italian: magistrato

Portuguese: magistrado
Spanish: magistrado

fr:magistrate ko:magistrate io:magistrate it:magistrate hu:magistrate pt:magistrate ru:magistrate ta:magistrate te:magistrate vi:magistrate zh:magistrate

GNU Project's publication of CIDE, the Collaborative International Dictionary of English Magistrate \Mag"is*trate\, n. [L. magistratus, fr. magister
master: cf. F. magistrat. See Master.]
A person clothed with power as a public civil officer; a
public civil officer invested with the executive government,
or some branch of it. "All Christian rulers and magistrates."
--Book of Com. Prayer.
[1913 Webster]

Of magistrates some also are supreme, in whom the
sovereign power of the state resides; others are
subordinate. --Blackstone.
[1913 Webster] Magistratic

WordNet magistrate
n : a public official authorized to decide questions bought
before a court of justice [syn: judge, justice, jurist]

Moby Dictionary
JP , Justice , alderman , arbiter , arbitrator , archon , bailie , beak ,
bencher , burghermaster , burgomaster , cabinet member ,
cabinet minister , chancellor , chief executive ,
chief executive officer , city councilman , city father ,
city manager , commissar , commissioner , councillor , councilman ,
councilwoman , county commissioner , county supervisor , court ,
critic , dean , elder , executive , executive director ,
executive officer , executive secretary , headman , his honor ,
his lordship , his worship , impartial arbitrator , indicator , induna ,
judge , justice , legislator , lord mayor , maire , management ,
managing director , mayor , minister , minister of state , moderator ,
officer , official , portreeve , prefect , president , prexy , provost ,
reeve , referee , secretary , secretary of state , selectman ,
supervisor , syndic , the administration , third party , treasurer ,
umpire , unbiased observer , undersecretary , vice-chancellor ,
vice-president , warden

Magistrate a public civil officer invested with authority. The Hebrew shophetim, or judges, were magistrates having authority in the land (Deut. 1:16, 17). In Judg. 18:7 the word "magistrate" (A.V.) is rendered in the Revised Version "possessing authority", i.e., having power to do them harm by invasion. In the time of Ezra (9:2) and Nehemiah (2:16; 4:14; 13:11) the Jewish magistrates were called _seganim_, properly meaning "nobles." In the New Testament the Greek word _archon_, rendered "magistrate" (Luke 12:58; Titus 3:1), means one first in power, and hence a prince, as in Matt. 20:25, 1 Cor. 2:6, 8. This term is used of the Messiah, "Prince of the kings of the earth" (Rev. 1:5). In Acts 16:20, 22, 35, 36, 38, the Greek term _strategos_, rendered "magistrate," properly signifies the leader of an army, a general, one having military authority. The _strategoi_ were the duumviri, the two praetors appointed to preside over the administration of justice in the colonies of the Romans. They were attended by the sergeants (properly lictors or "rod bearers").

MAGISTRATE, mun. law. A public civil officer, invested with some part of the legislative, executive, or judicial power given by the constitution. In a narrower sense this term includes only inferior judicial officers, as justices of the peace. 2. The president of the United States is the chief magistrate of this nation; the governors are the chief magistrates of their respective states. 3. It is the duty of all magistrates to exercise the power, vested in them for the good of the people, according to law, and with zeal and fidelity. A neglect on the part of a magistrate to exercise the functions of his office, when required by law, is a misdemeanor. Vide 15 Vin. Ab. 144; Ayl. Pand. tit. 22; Dig. 30, 16, 57; Merl. Rep. h.t.; 13 Pick. R. 523.