Referee

In practice. A person to whom a cause pending in a court is referred by the court, to take testimony, hear the parties, and report thereon to the court See Reter. And see In re Hathaway, 71 N. Y. 243; Betts v. Letcher, 1 S. D. 182, 46 N. W. 193; Central Trust Co. v. Wabash, etc., R. Co. (C. C.) 32 Fed. 685.

— Referee in bankruptcy. An officer appointed by the courts of bankruptcy under the act of 1898 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3418) corresponding to the "registers in bankruptcy" under earlier statutes having administrative and quasi-judicial functions under the bankruptcy law, and who assists the court in such cases and relieves the judge of attention to matters of detail or routine, by taking charge of ali administrative matters and the preparation or preliminary consideration of questions requiring judicial decision, subject at all times to the supervision and review of the court.