One authorized by an officer to exercise the office or right which the officer possesses, for and in place of the latter. 2. In general, ministerial officers can appoint deputies; Com. Dig. Officer, D 1; unless the office is to be exercised by the ministerial officer in person; and where the office partakes of a judicial and ministerial character, although a deputy may be made for the performance of ministerial acts, one cannot be made for the performance of a judicial act; a sheriff cannot therefore make a deputy to hold an inquisition, under a writ of inquiry, though he may appoint a deputy to serve a writ., 3. In general, a deputy has power to do every act which his principal might do but a deputy cannot make a deputy. 4. A deputy should always act in the name of his principal. The principal is liable for the deputy’s acts performed by him as such, and for the neglect of the deputy;
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
A substitute; a person duly authorized by an officer to exercise some or all of the functions pertaining to the office, in the place and stead of the latter. Carter v. Hornback, 139 Mo. 238, 40 S. W. 893; Herring v. Lee, 22 W. Va. 667; Erwin v. U. S. (D. C.) 37 Fed. 476 2 L. R. A. 229; Wlllingham v. State, 21 Fla. 776; Ellison v. Stevenson, 6 T. B. Mon. (Ky.) 271; People v. Barker, 14 Misc. Rep. 360, 35 N. Y. Supp. 727.
A deputy differs from an assignee, in that an assignee has an interest in the office itself, and does all things in his own name, for whom his grantor shall not answer, except In special cases; but a deputy has not any interest in the office, and is only the shadow of the officer in whose name he acts. And there is a distinction in doing an act by an agent and by a deputy. An agent can only bind his principal when he does the act in the name of the principal. But a deputy may do the act and sign his own name, and it binds his principal; for a deputy has, in law, the whole power of his principal. Wharton. Deputy consul. See CONSUL. Deputy lieutenant. The deputy of a lord lieutenant of a county in England. Deputy sheriff. One appointed to act in the place and stead of the sheriff in the official business of the tatter’s office. A general deputy (sometimes called “undersheriff”) is one who, by virtue of his appointment, has authority to execute all the ordinary duties of the office of sheriff, and who executes process without any special authority from his principal. A special deputy, who is an officer pro hoc vice, is one appointed for a special occasion or a special service, as, to serve a particular writ or to assist in keeping the peace when a riot or tumult is expected or in progress. He acts under a specific and not a general appointment and authority. Allen v. Smith, 12 N. J. Law, 162; In Re Wex 18 N. W. 36; Wilson v. Russell, 4 Dak. 376, 81 N. W. 645. Deputy steward. A steward of a manor may depute or authorise another to hold a court; and the acts done in a court so holden will be as legal as if the court had been holden by the chief steward in person. So an under steward or deputy may authorise another as subdeputy, pro hac vice, to hold a court for him; such limited authority not being inconsistent with the rule delegatus non potest delegare. Wharton.