surrogate n Cp OED ~ sb 1 c 'one appointed to act as judge in the vice-admiralty court in place of a regular judge' (1816, 1867 quots); DC Nfld (1793, 1818), ~ court Nfld (1818). Naval officer appointed to act as a judge by the governor; also attrib.
[1788] 1895 PROWSE 347 ... a much greater man than his master and governs this Island as he thinks fit, of which all the surrogates complain loudly. 1793 REEVES 154 The governor conferred on them the title of surrogates, an idea taken from the admiralty-law; to which, and which alone the naval governors were in the habit of looking... A surrogate is well known in Newfoundland, as legally deputed by the governor, to act as his deputy. [1810] 1971 ANSPACH 16 No house to be built, or enclosure erected by virtue of any grant, unless previously registered in the surrogate records. 1810 STEELE 89-90 About the same time [1789], surrogates were deputed by the Governor to assist him in his arduous duties; and they are now always sent into the out-harbours, to hear causes and adjust differences. 1826 [GLASCOCK] i, 147 It was the bowman of the boat's duty, on reaching the beach, to hoist a spare ship's ensign, as a signal for holding a court. Shortly after followed the captain's or lieutenant's coxwain, laden with a cloak-bag filled with books; the surrogate officer ... attended by two of the resident magistrates, a couple of midshipmen, the captain's clerk as registrar of the court, and a few fishermen of the place as criers and tipstaves. [1831] 1916 Nfld Law Reports 110 The Governor may appoint Courts of Civil Jurisdiction called Surrogate Courts, to be Courts of Record, and, shall determine according to the law of England, as far as the same can be applied to suits and complaints, arising in the Islands and places aforesaid.' 1861 DE BOILIEU 71 In September we generally had a visit from a Surrogate magistrate, in a schooner, but this is done away with; in fact it was a mere farce of a court. The judge was a retired post-captain in the navy, and the court was held on board a schooner hired for the purpose. 1906 Nfld Qtly Dec, p. 14 At one time I was district Judge, police-magistrate, by statute also police-inspector. Chairman of the Board of Health, surrogate of the [Admiralty] Court, president of the Royal Marine Court of Inquiry, and, to crown all, they appointed me Naval Commander of the Bait Squadron! 1937 DEVINE 50 ~ In the late l8th century, a deputy of the Governor, having authority to administer the fishery and shipping regulations and the law generally. Naval officers on the Newfoundland station were frequently thus appointed and used to hold court in the various harbors on the coast. T 75/7-64 The English fleet'd come over and would be in charge of a surrogate—fellow in charge of so many ships. T 342/6-672 It's from the old surrogates' records that their families were here fifty-five years before they got their grant from the surrogates.
