criminal law. A wrong committed by an officer under the pretended authority of his office; in some cases the act amounts to a misdemeanor, and the party may then be indicted. In other cases, the remedy to redress the wrong is by an action.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
An act unjustly done by the countenance of an office, being grounded upon corruption, to which the office is as a shadow and color. Plow. 64. A claim or assumption of right to do an act by virtue of an office, made by a person who is legally destitute of any such right. Feller v. Gates, 40 Or. 543, 67 Pac. 416, 5ft L. It A. 630, 91 Am. St Rep. 492; State v. Fowler, 88 Md. 601, 42 Atl. 201, 42 L. R. A. 849, 71 Am. St Rep. 452; Bishop v. McGillis, 80 Wis. 575, 50 N. W. 779, 27 Am. St Rep. 63; Decker v. Judson, 16 N. Y. 439; Mason v. Crabtree, 71 Ala. 481; Morton v. Campbell, 37 Barb. (N. Y.) 181; Luther v. Banks, 111 Ga. 374, 36 S. E. 826; People v. Schuyler, 4 N. Y. 187. The phrase implies, we think, some official power vested in the actor, he must be at least officer de facto. We do not understand that an act of a mere pretender to an office, or false personator of an officer, is said to be done by color of office. And it implies an illegal claim of authority, by virtue of the office, to do the act or thing in question.