magistracy

Etymology

It is formed from English magistrate + -acy.^[2][3][4][5] The base is from Latin magistrātus (“a magistrate, originally a magisterial rank or office”), from magister (“chief, director”),^[2][3] and the OED's 1577 quotation translates that noun.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The position or office of a magistrate, with its power and dignity: 1577, in H. I.'s translation of Bullinger's 50 Godlie Sermons.^[2][6] Etymonline and Dictionary.com put it in the 1570s.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The word moved from the office to the people holding it and then to the place they ruled.^[2][4] Beside the general sense, soon applied to a particular kind of magistrate such as a consul or justice of the peace (1600, in P. Holland's Livy),^[2] it could name the mere existence of magisterial power, from about 1585 to 1693.^[2][4] By 1607 it also meant magistrates as a body.^[2] Johnson (1755) recorded only "office or dignity of a magistrate".^[7] The late 19th century added a district under a magistrate (1888) and a magistrate's residence or station (1895).^[2][4] The OED notes that the later magistrature covers the senses of office, particular office and body of magistrates.^[2]

Timeline

• 1577 – the position or office of magistrate (the general sense, obsolete by 1875).^[2][6]
• c. 1585 – the existence of magisterial power, the state of being a magistrate (obsolete by 1693).^[2]
• 1600 – the office and powers of a particular type of magistrate.^[2]
• 1607 – magistrates collectively.^[2]
• 1888 – a district under a magistrate.^[2]
• 1895 – a magistrate's residence or station.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The office, power and dignity of a magistrate, especially of a particular kind.^[8][6][2]
2. Magistrates as a body: The town's magistracy met to hear the petition.^[8][6][2]
3. A district under the jurisdiction of a magistrate.^[8][6][2]
4. A magistrate's residence or station.^[2][4]
5. (obsolete, c. 1585–1693) The state of being a magistrate; the existence of magisterial power.^[2][4]

Related words

• magistrate
• magistrature
• magisterial
• magister
• master

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins