Administrator
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
A person authorized to manage and distribute the estate of an intestate, or of a testator, who has no executor. See "Administration." In English law, administrators are the officers of the ordinary appointed byhim in pursuance of the statute, and their title and authority are derived exclusively from the ecclesiastical judge, by grants called "letters of administration."
Williams, Ex'rs, 331.
At first the ordinary was appointed administrator under the statute of Westminster II.
Next, St. 31 Edw. III. c.
11, required the ordinary to appoint the next of kin and the relations by blood of the deceased. Next, under 21 Hen. VIII., he could appoint the widow, or next of kin, or both, at his discretion.