Attorney
A Dictionary of Law · Henry Campbell Black · 1891
A Dictionary of Law
In the most general sense this term denotes an agent or substitute, or one who is appointed and authorized to act in the place or stead of another. It is "an ancient English word, and signifieth one that is set in the turne, stead, or place of another; and of these some be private * * * and some be publike, as attorneys at law."
Co. Litt. 51b, 128; Britt. 285b.
One who is appointed by another to do something in his absence, and who has authority to act in the place and turn of him by whom he is delegated. Attorneys, in the modern use, are of two sorts, attorneys at law and attorneys in fact, as to which see those titles.