Minister

In Governmental Law. An officer who is placed near the sovereign, and is invested with the administration of the government. Ministers are responsible to the king or other supreme magistrate who has appointed them.

Kibbe v. Antram, 4 Conn. 134.

In Ecclesiastical Law. One ordained by some church to preach the gospel. All clergymen of every denomination and faith.

Haggln V. Haggin, 35 Neb. 375, 53 N. W. 209.

A person elected, by a Methodist society to be one of their Icrcal preachers, and ordained as a deacon of that church, is a minister of the gospel, within a statute exempting ministers from taxation.

Baldwin v. Mc Clinch, 1 Greenl. (Me.) 102.

So is a person ordained as a (Congregational minister and installed as such over a town. Gridley v. Clark, 2 Pick. (Mass.) 403. See L. R. 8 Q. B.69. Formerly the word was applied only to deacons, but it is now the most comprehensive ecclesiastical title. In the prayerbook it means the officiating clergyman, whether bishop, priest, or deacon. 14 P. D. 148. Ministers are authorized in the United States, generally, to solemnize marriages, and are usually liable to fines and penalties for marrying minors contrary to the local regulations. As to the rights of ministers or parsons, see S Am. Jur. 268; Shepp. Touchst. Anthon ed. 664. Weston v. Hunt, A name given to public functionaries wbo represent their country with foreign governments, including ambassadors, envoys, and residents. A custom of modem origin has introduced a new kind of ministers, without any particular determination of character; these are simply called ministera, to indicate that they are invested with the general character of a sovereign’s mandatories, without any particular assignment of rank, and without being Invested with the representative character. There are also tn Mstera itlenipotei Uiary, who, as they possess full powers; are of much greater distinction than simple ministers. These, also, are without any particular attribution of rank and character, but by custom are now placed immediately below the ambassador, or on a level with the envoy extraordinary; Vattel, liv. 4, c. 6, { 74; 1 Kent 48; Merlin, Rupert. Owing to frequent disputes between the several classes of diplomatic 'agents regarding precedence, the question was taken up by the Congress of Vienna and by the Congress of Alx-la-Chapelle, with the result that diplomatic agents are now divided into the following classes: 1. Ambassadors, and papal legates or nuncios. 2. Envoys, ministers, or others accredited to sovereigns (aupr^a dea aouveraina). 3. Ministers resident, accredited to sovereigns. 4. Charg^a d'affairea, acccredited to the minister of foreign affairs. Public ministers take rank among themselves, in each class, according to the date of the official notification of the arrival at the court to which they are accredited. Recez, du Congrda de Vienne, du 19 mara, 1815; Protocol du Congr^a d'Aix-la-Chapelle, du Novembre, 1818; Wheaton, Int. Law § 211. Consuls and other commercial agents are not, in general, considered as public ministers. See Ambassador; Consul; Recall.