magistracy
Americannoun
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the office or function of a magistrate.
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a body of magistrates.
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the district under a magistrate.
noun
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the office or function of a magistrate
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magistrates collectively
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the district under the jurisdiction of a magistrate
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of magistracy
First recorded in 1570–80; magistr(ate) + -acy
Explanation
If someone is a magistrate — a judge or other civil officer — her position or office is a magistracy. A magistracy in an English town deals with small, local crimes and offenses. The United States doesn't have magistrates or magistracies, but in many countries they are part of the legal systems. In the UK and Australia, for example, a magistracy hears the majority of cases, with more serious criminal cases being heard by judges in larger courts. Both magistrate and magistracy come from a Latin word, magistratus, "public functionary or civil officer," which shares its root with the English word master.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A spokesperson from the department tells BBC Newsbeat that "the government wants to ensure that the magistracy reflects the diversity of the communities it serves, including age, background and experience".
From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2025
The DNA’s chief prosecutor, Laura Codruta Kovesi, a basketball star in her teens, rose through the magistracy before getting the top job in April 2013.
From Economist ● Feb. 19, 2015
While what Barton, and possibly Rio Ferdinand, tweeted was seriously prejudicial, it fails the substantial risk test because of the expectation of impartiality of the magistracy and judiciary.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 9, 2012
After Tom Jones, which Fielding published when he was 41, the government gave him a small sinecure, the magistracy of Westminster.
From Time Magazine Archive
More than this, his opinion was sought as to the best means to be employed in the re-establishment of the ancient magistracy.
From Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence by Kite, Elizabeth S.
In 1792 he obtained through Dundas an appointment to one of the new police magistracies created by an act of that year.
From The English Utilitarians, Volume I. by Stephen, Leslie, Sir
In the lists of those who successively fill the great curule magistracies, we find almost exclusively the names of members of the old patrician or of the more recent plebeian nobility.
From The Roman Poets of the Republic by Sellar, W. Y.
The decemvirs—those who codified the laws—came into supreme power, and suspended the other great magistracies, and ruled, under the direction of Appius Claudius, in an arbitrary and tyrannical manner.
From Ancient States and Empires by Lord, John
They were to have consular imperium with the right to appoint to the magistracies and their acts were to be valid without the approval of the Senate.
From A History of Rome to 565 A. D. by Boak, Arthur Edward Romilly
Unlimited plunder was at Cicero's command—provinces, magistracies, abnormal lieutenancies—but he took nothing.
From The Life of Cicero Volume II. by Trollope, Anthony
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
