Dempster - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition dempster

Definition :

Dempster, the Chief Judge of a Tinwald Court in the Isle of Man. See Scott's Peveril of the Peak, ch. v. See DEEMSTERS.

In Scotland in former times the word Dempster or Doomster of Court was the designation of an official person whose duty it was to recite the sentence after it had been pronounced by the Court, and recorded by the clerk; on which occasion the Dempster legalized it by the words of form, 'And this I pronounce for doom.' For a length of years the office was held in commendam with that of the executioner; it has long been abolished. See Scott's Heart of Midlothian, ch. xxiii.