1. a man who, by virtue of a commission from the Ordinary,
Surrogate, Court of
Probate, or other proper authority, has the charge of the goods and estate of one dying without a will.
2. One who administers, or who directs, manages, distributes, or dispenses laws and rites, either in civil, judicial, political, or ecclesiastical affairs.
3. In Scots law, a tutor,
curator or
guardian, having the care of one who is incapable of acting for himself. The term is usually applied to a father who has power over his children and their estate, during their
minority.
1. One who administers affairs; one who directs, manages, executes, or dispenses, whether in civil, judicial, political, or ecclesiastical affairs; a
manager.
2. A man who manages or settles the estate of an
intestate, or of a
testator when there is no competent
executor; one to whom the right of administration has been committed by competent authority.
ADMINISTRATOR, in English Law, he to whom the ordinary or judge of the ecclesiastical court, now the Court of Probate, acting in the queen’s name, commits the administration of the goods of a person deceased, in default of an executor. The origin of administrators is derived from the civil law. Their establishment in England is owing to a statute made in the 31st year of Edward III. Till then no office of this kind was known besides that of executor; in default of whom, the ordinary had the disposal of goods of persons intestate, &c.
Administrator, in Scottish Law, a person legally empowered to act for another whom the law presumes incapable of acting for himself, as a father for a pupil child.
9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 1, p. 154
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