Surrogate

The style or title of a judicial officer charged with probate of wills and superintendence of the settlement of estates, and cognate matters, such as guardianship. The surrogate and the surrogate's court, in some of the states, correspond to judge of probate and court of probate, or to ordinary and orphan's court, in others. See those titles. Surrogate means one who is appointed or substituted in the place of another, most commonly in the place of a bishop or a bishop's chancellor. He usually presided in the bishop's diocesan court, and, as the representative of the ordinary, granted letters of administration where the spiritual court was not presided over by a judge. Upon the death of the judges of the ecclesiastical courts in the sees of CanterbiU'y and London, the surrogates of such courts were by act of parliament directed to perform their duties until the appointment of their successors. (3 Bum Ecc. Law, 229, 667; Stat. 10 Geo. IV. ch. 63, § 13.) Brown. A surrogate is one that is substituted or appointed in the room of another. The word is most commonly used of a person who is appointed by the bishop for granting marriage licenses. ( Termes^e la Ley; Cowel; 2 Steph. Com. 247.) Modey ^ W.