ADMINISTRARE - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

ADMINISTRAREAuthored

The Law Mind • 611 words

Definition

A Latin term from Roman civil law meaning "to manage, conduct, or administer." In legal contexts, *administrare* describes the act of managing property, affairs, or an office on behalf of another — most commonly the management of a decedent's estate by a court-appointed administrator, but also the conduct of any fiduciary or official function. The term is the root from which the English legal vocabulary of administration, administrator, and letters of administration derives, and it carries into those terms its core civil law sense of stewardship and authorized management rather than ownership.

Why It Matters in Research

Researchers working in pre-modern common law sources, ecclesiastical court records, Roman law materials, or early American legal texts will encounter *administrare* as a term of art embedded in Latin formulae, grant clauses, and court instruments. Because it is a Latin root rather than a naturalized English legal term, it appears most often in primary sources predating the general shift to English-language pleading — particularly in probate records, letters of administration, and civil law treatises. Researchers should be alert to the following:

First, the term anchors the vocabulary of estate administration across multiple doctrinal contexts. Anderson's entry, though fragmentary in the source material, links *administrare* to several distinct administrative forms — administration *cum testamento annexo* (with the will annexed), administration *pendente lite* (during pending litigation), and ancillary administration. Encountering *administrare* in a historical source signals that the surrounding text likely concerns fiduciary management of property and should be read against that framework.

Second, because the term travels through ecclesiastical and civil law channels rather than pure common law channels, its meaning in historical sources may track Roman and canon law usage more closely than contemporary English probate practice. Researchers should not assume that the common law doctrinal gloss on "administration" maps perfectly onto contexts where *administrare* appears in its Latin form.

Third, the incompleteness of Burrill's entry — cutting off at "to manage, or conduct; to admin-" — reflects a common transcription limitation in early American legal dictionaries. Burrill clearly intended a fuller treatment; the truncation is an artifact of the source, not a signal that the term was considered minor.

Historical Dictionary Support

Burrill's Law Dictionary identifies *administrare* squarely as a civil law term meaning to manage or conduct, situating it in the Roman law tradition. The entry is fragmentary in the surviving source, but its placement and opening language confirm the term's primary sense as active management or stewardship rather than mere oversight.

Anderson's Dictionary of Law, while not defining *administrare* as a standalone headword, provides the most useful contextual material by linking the administrative forms that derive from it — *cum testamento annexo*, *pendente lite*, and ancillary administration. Anderson's treatment reflects nineteenth-century American probate practice and illustrates how the Latin root gave rise to a family of specialized procedural terms. The incumbent administrator's duties as described — inventory, asset preservation, debt collection and payment — are entirely consistent with the civil law sense of *administrare* as active, bounded management.

Neither source addresses the term's ecclesiastical law dimension, where *administrare* also appeared in the context of administering sacraments, oaths, or church property. Researchers working in ecclesiastical or canon law materials should consult additional sources.

Jurisdictional Note

As a Latin root term, *administrare* itself is not jurisdiction-specific, but the doctrinal content it signals — particularly the forms of administration catalogued by Anderson — varied between American states in the nineteenth century, especially regarding ancillary administration and the handling of domiciliary versus situs-state assets.

ADMINISTRAREmain

Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867

Lat. In the civil law. To manage, or conduct; to admin-

ADMINISTRAREmain

Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890

His guardian, or other suitable person, may then take out letters cum testamento annexo. Administration pendente lite. While a suit continues-over an alleged will or the right of an appointment. The incumbent's duty is limited to filing an inventory, caring for the assets, collecting and paying debts.1 Ancillary administration. Subordinate to another administration, and for collecting the effects of a non-resident.2 Any surplus beyond the claims of local creditors is paid over to the domiciliary representative. Foreign administration. Granted at decedent's domicil in another State or country. Ground for a new probate, ancillary in nature. But a few courts hold that new letters need not be issued. Letters confer no authority beyond the limits of the State granting them. The title acquired by the administrator of the domicil is a fiduciary one, enforceable in another State only by permission of its laws. No State can be required to surrender the effects or debts due to an intestate domiciled elsewhere to the prejudice of its own citizens. Although the right of the domiciliary administrator may be recognized ex comitate, it is subject to the rights of creditors where the assets exist or the debtor resides.5 Limited administration. time, power, or as to effects.6 Restricted in Public administration. Conducted by a special public officer, or the guardians of the poor, where there is no relative entitled to apply for letters. Special administration. Limited, either in time or in power. The instrument given by the officer of probate to the person who proposes to administer upon the estate of an intestate is called the letters of administration. This instrument confers authority to take charge of and to settle the estate, collecting dues, paying debts, etc.; and comprises: a copy of the will, if there be a will and no executor; a copy of the decree of allowance of such will in probate; a certificate of the name of the appointee, his rights, duties, etc. The faithful discharge of his duties is secured by an 1 See 4 Watts, 36; 16 S. & R. 420. 221 Cent. Law J. 186-90 (1885), cases. See 11 Mass. 263; 132 id. 452; 44 111. 202; 32 Barb. 190; 88 Pa. 131. 4 See Wilkins v. Ellett, 108 U. S. 256 (1883); 2 Ala. 429; 18 B. Mon. 582; 18 Miss. 607; 12 Vt. 589. Moore, Adm'x, v. Jordan, 36 Kan. 275 (1887), cases, Johnston, J.; Story, Confl. Laws, § 512; Wyman v. Halstead, 109 U. S. 654 (1884), cases. • See McArthur v. Scott, 113 U. S. 399 (1883), cases. administrator's bond, - an obligation entered into by the nominee, with sufficient sureties, and approved by the court,1 As against strangers letters of administration are not evidence of death, but merely of their own exist ence; i. e., that the proceedings have been regularly had, and that the appointee is entitled to the office. Being like an exemplification, they need not be proved. Compare LETTERS, 4, Testamentary. An administrator represents the personal property of his decedent. He is a trustee thereof for creditors, distributees, and heirs; and is an officer of the court. He takes title from the time of his appointment. He stands in privity with the deceased, succeeding to all his rights, but not to his contract duties of a purely personal nature. He is liable to the amount of the assets. The nearest of kin is preferred for the office: descendants to ancestors; males to females; and, where there is no kin, a creditor of the estate. He is held to the care of a man of ordinary prudence, and to the utmost good faith. Where there are two or more appointees, each is the other's agent; and all sue and are to be sued. The chief duties of an administrator are to bury the deceased; give public notice of the grant of letters; make an inventory; collect the assets; pay the debts. He may not buy any part of the estate for himself; nor mix the estate's funds with his own; nor let the assets lie idle; nor use them to his own gain. On the more important matters he should seek and follow the direction of the court. For debts and improvements he is to first exhaust the personalty; after that he may convert realty. The law of the decedent's domicil governs the disposal of his personalty, the law of the place where situated his realty.4 See ADMINISTRARE; ASSETS; COMPROMISE; EXECUTOR; IMPROVIDENT; INCAPABLE; PERISHABLE; PRIVITY; SETTLE, 3; TRUST, 1; VOUCHER; WITNESS. L. To wait upon, serve; to dispose of, administer. Plene administravit. He has fully administered. Plene administravit præter. He has fully administered except -. The emphatic words of pleas by an exесutor or administrator: the former plea meaning that he has lawfully disposed of all assets that have come into his hands; the latter plea, that he has administered all assets except an amount which is not sufficient to satisfy the plaintiff's claim. 1 See Beall v. New Mexico, 16 Wall. 543 (1872); Stov all v. Banks, 10 id. 583 (1870). 2 Mutual Benefit Life Ins. Co. v. Tisdale, 91 U. S. 243 (1875); Devlin v. Commonwealth, 101 Pa. 276 (1882), cases. 3 See Moore v. Randolph, 70 Ala. 584 (1881); Bowersox's Appeal, 100 Pa. 437 (1882). See generally Williams, and Schouler, on Executors, &c.; 2 Bl. Com. 489; 2 Kent, 409; 1 Pars. Contr 127; 13 How. 466-67. (3)

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