Chief magistrate
An older term for the top official who carries out the laws of a government. Founding-era writers used it for the President of the United States and for state governors.
An older term for the top official who carries out the laws of a government. Founding-era writers used it for the President of the United States and for state governors.
Example: In Federalist No. 69, Hamilton compares the proposed President, elected for four years, with the king of Great Britain and with the governor (the “chief magistrate”) of New York, concluding there is “a total dissimilitude between him and a king of Great Britain.”
Common misconception: A chief magistrate is not a judge. In ordinary modern usage a magistrate is a minor judicial officer, but in this phrase “magistrate” means an executive official; the Constitution’s Article II charges the President to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”
Sources: The Federalist No. 69 (Hamilton), Avalon Project; National Archives, The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription (Article II)