Magistrate
A Dictionary of Law · Henry Campbell Black · 1891
A Dictionary of Law
A public officer belonging to the civil organization of the state, and invested with powers and funect.ons which may be either judicial, legislative, or executive, But the term is commonly used in a nar. rower sense, designating, in England, a person intrusted with the commission of the peace, and, in America, one of the class of inferior judicial officers, such as justices of the peace and police justices, eharged with a public offense.
Pen. Code Gal. § 807.
The word “magistrate” does not necessarily lmply an officer exercising any judicial functions, and might very well be held to embrace notaries and commissioners of deeds.
57 Mo. 336.