in law, he to whom the ordinary commits the administration of the goods of a person deceased, in default of an executor.—An action lies for, or against an administrator, as for, or against an executor; and he shall be accountable to the value of the goods of the deceased, and no farther: unless there be waste, or other abuse chargeable on him. If the administrator die, his executors are not administrators; but the court is to grant a new administration.—If a stranger, who is neither administrator nor executor, take the goods of the deceased, and administer, he shall be charged, and sued as an executor, not as an administrator. The origin of administrators is derived from the civil law. Their establishment in England is owing to a statute made in the 31st year of Edw. III. Till then, no office of this kind was known beside that of executor: in case of a want of which, the ordinary had the disposal of goods of persons intestate, &c.

in Scots law, a person legally empowered to act for another whom the law precludes incapable of acting for himself. Thus tutors or curators are sometimes styled administrators in law to pupils, minors, or fatuous persons. But more generally the term is used to imply that power which is conferred by the law upon a father over the persons and estates of his children during their minority. See Law, No. cxi.

is sometimes used for the president of a province; for a person appointed to receive, manage, and distribute, the revenues of an hospital or religious house; for a prince who enjoys the revenues of a secularized bishopric; and for the regent of a kingdom during a minority of the prince, or a vacancy of the throne.