Public Officer - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition public-officer

Definition :

Public officer, means a person falling under any of the following descriptions, namely:-

(a) every Judge;

(b) every member of an All India Service;

(c) every commissioned or gazetted officer in the military naval or air forces of the Union while serving under the Government.

(d) Every officer of a court of justice whose duty it is, as such officer, to investigate or report on any matter of law or fact, or to make, authenticate or keep any document, or to take charge of dispose of any property, or to execute any judicial process, or to administer any oath, or to interpret, or to preserve order, in the Court, and every person especially authorized by a Court of Justice to perform any of such duties.

(e) Every person who holds any office by virtue of which he is empowered to place or keep any person in confinement;

(f) Every officer of the Government whose duty it is, as such officer, to prevent offences, to give information of offences, to bring offenders to justice, or to protect the public health, safety or convenience;

(g) Every officer whose duty it is, as such officer, to take receive, keep or expend any property on behalf of the Government, or to make any survey, assessment or contract on behalf of the Government, or to execute any revenue process, or to investigate, or to report on, any matter effecting the pecuniary interests of the Government, or to make, authenticate or keep any document relating to the pecuniary interests of the Government, or to prevent the infraction of any law for the protection of the pecuniary interests of the Government; and

(h) Every officer in the service or pay of the Government, or remunerated by fees or commission for the performance of any public duty. [Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, s. 2 (17)]

The general name for any authorized officer acting in a public capacity under the Crown or public authority, more particularly a person appointed by joint-stock banking companies, etc., under 7 Geo. 4, c. 46, s. 9, or otherwise to sue and be sued on behalf of a company. As to the punishment of frauds committed by such persons, see the (English) Larceny Act, 1861, ss. 81-84, and the Larceny Act, 1916, s. 20.