Definition of "magistrate" []

• A civil officer with power to administer and enforce law, as: (noun)
• A local member of the judiciary having limited jurisdiction, especially in criminal cases. (noun)
• A minor official, such as a justice of the peace, having administrative and limited judicial authority. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "To say the _magistrate_ has this right, is using an inadequate word: it is the _society_ for which the magistrate is agent."
• "Some critics denounced the idea of calling magistrates regional or district court judges, but in most Commonwealth countries the term magistrate referred to a lay judicial official."
• "In this work the magistrate is the minister of God, v. 4."