Messenger - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition messenger

Definition :

Messenger, one who carries an errand; a forerunner.

Messengers are certain officers employed under the direction of the Secretaries of State, and always ready to be sent with dispatches, foreign and domestic (now called King's Messengers). They were employed with the secretaries' warrants to arrest persons for treason, or other offences against the State, which did not so properly fall under the cognizance of the Common Law, and, perhaps, were not properly to be divulged in the ordinary course of justice, 2 Hawk. P.C., c. xvi., s. 9.

There are other officers distinguished by this appellation, as the messengers of the Lord Chancellor, Privy Council, and Exchequer, etc. Also, in bankruptcy, persons officially appointed who seize a bankrupt's property. The office of messenger of the Great Seal was abolished by 37 & 38 Vict. c. 81