Ministrant
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
The party cross-examining a witness was so called, under the old system of the ecclesiastical courts. MINISTRI REGIS (Lat.) In old English law. Ministers of the king, applied to the judges of the realm, and to all those who MINOR (Lat. less; younger). A minor; one not a major, i. e., not twenty-one.
2 Inst. 291; Co. Litt. 88, 128, 172b; 6 Coke, 67; 3 Bulst. 143; Bracton, 340b; Fleta, lib. 2, c. 60; § 26.
Of less consideration; lower. Calv. Lex. "Major" and "minor" belong rather to civil law. The common-law terms are "adult" and "infant." MINOR AETAS (Lat.) Minority or Infancy.
Cro. Car. 516.
Literally, lesser age. MINOR ANTE TEMPUS AGERE NON potest in casu proprietatis, nee etiam convenire. A minor before majority cannot act In a case of property, nor even agree.
2 Inst. 291.