chief justiciary

1 definition found

chief justiciary - Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) :

  CHIEF JUSTICIARY. An officer among the English, established soon after the 
  conquest. 
       2. He had judicial power, and sat as a judge in the Curia Regis. (q.v.)
  In the absence of the king, he governed the kingdom. In the course of 
  time, the power and distinction of this officer gradually diminished, until 
  the reign of Henry III, when the office was abolished.