officer

+ 5 more definitions — see all 13 over time

The incumbent of an office. otherwise applied, as to the officer of a corporation. A public officer is one occupying a public office, to whom a portion of the sovereign power is delegated, and whose duties are continuous in their nature, and prescribed by law. The distinction between an officer and a government employee is that the duties of the former are fixed by law, and not by contract. 22 Conn. 379; 36 Miss. 273; 42 N. Y. Super. Ct. 481. -^

— Executive Officers. Those whose duties are mainly to cause the laws to be executed. For example, the president of the United States of America, and the several governors of the different states, are executive officers. Their duties are pointed out in the national constitution, and in the constitutions of the several states. Legislative Officers. Those whose duties relate mainly to the enactment of laws, such as members of congress and of the several state legislatures. These officers are confined in their duties, by the constitution, generally to make laws; though sometimes, in cases of impeachment, one of the houses of the legislature exercises judicial functions somewhat similar to those of a grand jury, by presenting to the other articles of impeachment, and the other house acts as a court in trying such impeachments. The legislatures have, besides, the power to inquire into the conduct of their members, judge of their elections, and the like. -—

— Judicial Officers. Those whose duties are to decide controversies between individuals, and accusations made in the name of the public against persons charged with a violation of the law. Ministerial Officers. Those whose duty it is to execute the mandates, lawfully is.sued, of their superiors. Military Officers. Those who have command in the army. * — I

— Naval Officers. Those who are in command in the navy.

The incumbent of an office; one who is lawfully invested with an office. One who is charged by a superior power (and particularly by government) with the power and duty of exercising certain functions.

— Civil officer. Any officer of the United States who holds his appointment under the national government, whether his duties are executive or judicial, in the highest or the lowest departments of the government, with the exception of officers of the army and navy. 1 Story. Const. § 792; State v. Clarke, 21 Nev. 333, 31 Pac. 545, 18 L. R. A. 313. 37 Am. St. Rep. 517; State v. O'Driscoll, 3 Brev. (S. C.) 527; Com'rs v. Goldsborough, 90 Md. 193, 44 Atl. 1055.

— Officer de facto. As distinguished from an officer de jure, this is the designation of one who is in the actual possession and administration of the office, under some colorable or apparent authority, although his title to the same, whether by election or appointment, is in reality invalid or at least formally questioned. See Norton v. Shelby County, 118 U. S. 425, 6 Sup. Ct. 1121, 30 L. Ed. 78; State v. Carroll. 38 Conn. 449, 9 Am. Rep. 409; Trenton v. McDaniel. 52 N. C. 107; Barlow v. Stanford, 82 111. 298; Brown v. Lunt. 37 Me. 423; Gregg Tp. v. Jamison, 55 Pa. 468; Pierce v. Edington, 38 Ark. 150; Plymouth v. Painter, 17 Conn. 585, 44 Am. Dec. 574; Prescott v. Hayes, 42 N. H. 56; Jewell v. Gilbert, 64 N. H. 12, 5 Atl. 80, 10 Am. St. Rep. 357; Griffin v. Cunningham, 20 Grat. (Va.) 31; Ex parte Strang, 21 Ohio St. 610.

— Officers of justice. A general name applicable to all persons connected with the administration of the judicial department of government, but commonly used only of the class of officers whose duty is to serve the process of the courts, such as sheriffs, constables, bailiffs, marshals, sequestrators, etc.

— Publio officer. An officer of a public corporation ; that is, one holding office under the government of a municipality, state, or nation. In English law, an officer appointed by a joint-stock banking company, under the statutes regulating such companies, to prosecute and defend suits in its behalf. For definitions of the various classes and kinds of officers, see the titles "Commissioned Officers," "Executive," "Fiscal," "Judicial," "Legislative," "Ministerial," "Municipal," "Non-Commissioned," "Peace," and "State."

One who holds an ofl Sce; a person lawfully invested with an office. Officer de facto: one who colore offlcii assumes to exercise official authority. Officer de jure: a rightful officer. Officia jndicialia iion coiicedantur anteqnam vacent, I. Judicial offices should not be granted before they are vacant.

The incumbent of an office; one whois lawfully invested with an office. One who is charged by a superior power (and particularly by government) with the power and duty of exercising certain functions.

One invested by a superior authority, and particularly by government, with the duty and power of transacting affairs of a certain class; an incumbent of an office; a person designated to execute some function of government. All persons by authority of law intrusted with the receipt of pubhc money, or through whose hands money due to the public may pass to the treasury, are public officers, within the meaning of the Pa. Stat. 1842, § 1, abolishing imprisonment for debt, except in a proceeding to recover " moneys collected by any pubhc officer;" whether the service be general or special, transient or permanent. Commonwealth v, Evans, 74 Pa. St. 124. One who receives no certificate of appointment, takes no oath of office, has no term or tenure of office, discharges no duties and exercises no powers depending directly on the authority of law, but simply performs such duties as are required of him by the persons employing him, and whose responsibility is limited to them, is not an officer. " Office " implies authority to exercise some portion of the sovereign power of the state. Olmstead v. Mayor, &c. of N. Y., 42 N. Y. Superior Ct. 481. A person who has been elected, but who has not qualified and entered upon his office, is not an officer. Oordiell v. Frizell, 1 Nev. 130. He is not "in office." Jump v. Spence, 28 Md. 1. A person who, in pursuance of directions of the secretalry of the navy, pays navy and privateer pensions, does not thereby become an officer of the United States. Browne v. United States, 1 Curt. C. Ct. 15. A deputy of a United States marshal is an officer of the United States. United States V. Tinklepaugh, 3 Blatchf. iS,b. Any person who executes process on a foreign minister, is to be deemed an officer, under section 25 of the act of 1790, which protects such minister from arrest. United States V. Benner, Baldw. 234. " Officer " does not always include a purser in the navy. Exp. Randolph, 2 Brock. Marsh. 447, 481. " Officer of election," in an act of congress, does not include the governor of a state. United States v. Clayton, 2 JM. 219. The receiver of a national bank, appointed by the comptroller of the currency, with the concurrence of the secretary of the Navy agents are officers of the United States. Armstrong v. United States, Gilp. 399. Tlie phrase officers and seamen, in a special act for the relief of the widows and orphans of the officers and seamen of a United States vessel, does not include marines serving on such vessel. 8 Op. Att.-Gen. 28. What persons are " officers " or are " employed in the civil service," and as such entitled to increased compensation under the " twenty per cent resolutions " of Congress, — see Twenty per cent Cases, 20 Wall. 179; United States v. Saunders, 22 Id. 492; and many cases in Ct. of CI. Rep. Clerks in the executive departments of the federal government or of a state are officers. Talbot v. United States, 10 Ct. of CI. 426; Vaughn v. English, 8 Cal. 39. A special deputy of a sheriff is not an officer. Kavanaugh v. State, 41 Ala. 399. Commissioners appointed under some state statute to execute a function designated, have been held not to be officers, in People V. Middleton, 28 Cal. 603; Bunn v. People, 45 III. 397; Conrey v. Copland, 4 La. Ann. 307. Managers of a state lottery were held agents, not officers, of the state, in State v. Piatt, 4 //arr. (Del.) 154. A road supervisor is not such an officer as is referred to in the statute against resisting officers in the service of process or in the discharge of their duties: it contemplates only such officers as are authorized to execute legal process. State v. Putnam, 35 Iowa, 561. A police juryman is not an officer, within a clause of the constitution prohibiting a person from holding more than one office. ■ Such clause of the constitution applies only to constitutional offices, and does not prevent a constitutional officer from holding a municipal office. State v. Montgomery, 25 La. Ann. 138. A collector of city taxes is a public officer, within the exception in the bankrupt act of 1841, of debts created in consequence of a defalcation as a public officer, from the operation of a discharge. Morse v. City of Lowell, 7 Met. 152. A pension officer of the United States is not an officer of the general government, so as to be disqualified under the state constitution from holding an office of trust or profit under this state. Lindsey v. Attorney- General, 33 Miss. 508. A representative in the state legislature is a public officer. Morril v. Haynes, 2 N. iT 246. The post of health officer of New York is included in the class denominated in the constitution of that state as " other officers." Matter of Whiting, Edm. Sel. Cos. 498. The superintendent or principal keeper of the Albany county penitentiary is a A board of supervisors of a county is not a public officer, within the meaning of a statute giving double costs when the action is against a public officer. People v. Supervisors of Niagara, 60 How. Pr. 353. The licensing of a merchant under the United States revenue laws does not render him an officer of the United States, or not liable to a state tax. State v. Bell,