LIEUTENANT

8 definitions found across Law Mind sources

LIEUTENANTAuthored
The Law Mind • 1171 words
Definition
A lieutenant is, in its broadest legal sense, a deputy or substitute — one who holds the place, post, or office of another by vicarious authority. The word captures a structural relationship: the lieutenant acts in the stead of a superior, whether temporarily or as a matter of institutional design. In legal usage, the term appears in two principal contexts: 1. CIVIL OFFICE: A lieutenant is an officer empowered to perform the duties of a superior, most commonly when the principal is absent, incapacitated, or when succession is required. The lieutenant-governor is the paradigm case: a constitutional or statutory officer who steps into the governor's role under defined circumstances. Other civil examples include lieutenants of police and similar subordinate administrative positions. 2. MILITARY RANK: In the armed forces, lieutenant designates one or more junior commissioned officer ranks, positioned above enlisted and warrant grades but below captain. Usage varies by branch. In land forces (army, marines), the rank typically subdivides into first lieutenant and second lieutenant, the latter being the most junior commissioned grade. In naval forces, lieutenant occupies a different position in the rank hierarchy and carries distinct responsibilities. ---
Common Language
Wiktionary: The lowest junior commissioned officer rank(s) in many military forces, including the Army and Marines; in the U.S. Army, Air Force, and Marines, the rank above second lieutenant and below captain. In naval contexts, a commissioned officer of a specific rank in that branch's hierarchy. Webster's 1913: An officer who supplies the place of a superior in his absence; a representative of or substitute for another in the performance of any duty. Also, a commissioned officer in the army next below a captain, and in the navy next below a commander. Editorial note: The common meaning of lieutenant has narrowed over time toward its military sense, particularly the specific rank designation. The legal meaning retains the older, broader sense of deputy or substitute — a structural role defined by delegated authority rather than any fixed rank. Researchers working with legal texts should not assume the military rank meaning; in civil law contexts, lieutenant often means nothing more than a designated stand-in for a principal officer. ---
Common Confusion
The narrowing of the term from its broad deputyship sense to its military rank meaning has created a persistent reading hazard in older legal materials. A historical document referring to "the lieutenant" of a county, a lord, or a crown officer is not describing a military rank but a civil deputy vested with delegated governmental authority — a function with significant legal consequences regarding jurisdiction, liability, and the validity of official acts. Conflating the rank meaning with the deputy meaning can lead to fundamental misreading of early American, English, and colonial legal sources. ---
Why It Matters in Research
The term presents a layered research challenge because its dominant meaning in ordinary modern usage (military rank) is precisely the meaning that matters least in most legal texts. In constitutional and administrative law materials, lieutenant almost always signals a delegated authority relationship. Succession clauses, executive power grants, and state constitutional provisions turn on the precise scope of a lieutenant's authority — what acts a lieutenant-governor may perform, under what conditions, and whether those acts bind the state. Researchers looking for doctrine on officer succession, executive vacancy, or delegated rulemaking authority should track every instance of the term in constitutional texts and enabling statutes, not just provisions that use the word "succession." In historical materials — colonial charters, Crown-era instruments, early state constitutions — the term carried full weight as a deputy designation. Lord Lieutenants, county lieutenants, and similar figures exercised substantial civil and military jurisdiction simultaneously. Their acts, commissions, and appointments generated litigation that populated early American and English case law. Researchers working with these materials need to understand that "lieutenant" may describe an officer with both civil and military functions, not a rank in a purely military chain of command. In military law contexts, the rank meaning governs, but even there jurisdictional and authority questions arise: whether a lieutenant had authority to issue a particular order, whether acts performed within or outside the scope of the rank carry legal consequences, and how rank interacts with command responsibility doctrine. The Law Mind corpus contains sources spanning the full arc of the term's usage, from Bouvier and Rapalje through modern administrative materials. Researchers should apply period-appropriate reading: pre-twentieth century sources will frequently use lieutenant in the deputy sense; modern sources default to the rank meaning unless the context is explicitly civil or constitutional. ---
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries agree on the core: lieutenant means deputy or substitute, derived from the French for "place-holder." Black's (1st ed.) states this directly — one who holds the post or office of another in the place and stead of the latter. Bouvier and Rapalje both emphasize the same root meaning and both flag explicitly that the word has narrowed in practical usage over time, even while the broader legal definition remains valid. Where the sources diverge slightly is in how much weight they give the civil versus military application. Bouvier gives fuller treatment to civil usages (lieutenant-governors, the several states) and notes that the military usage of lieutenant-general had its own historical arc. Rapalje similarly leads with the civil and then addresses military gradations. Black's (1st ed.) notes the word is used "in composition" — pointing to compound titles like lieutenant-governor, lieutenant-colonel, and lieutenant-general as the operative legal appearances of the term. Notably, none of the historical dictionaries provide a stand-alone treatment of the military rank of lieutenant in the way a modern military law reference would. They treat the rank as illustrative of the broader deputyship principle rather than as an independent legal category. This reflects the era: the legal significance of military rank in terms of rights, responsibilities, and civil-military jurisdiction was less developed in nineteenth-century legal literature than it became in the twentieth century. The historical dictionaries as a group are reliable on the deputy meaning but should not be treated as comprehensive sources on military rank law, officer succession doctrine, or modern administrative law applications of the term. ---
Jurisdictional Note
The civil lieutenant-governor role varies significantly across U.S. states in both structure and legal consequence. Some states vest the lieutenant-governor with defined legislative or administrative functions independent of succession; others treat the office as purely contingent on the governor's absence or incapacity. State constitutional text and enabling statutes govern, and no uniform rule applies across jurisdictions. ---
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Military Law Law Mind Encyclopedia — Civil Officers Law Mind Encyclopedia — Delegated Authority and Deputy Officers ---
Related Terms
Deputy | Locum Tenens | Lieutenant-Governor | Officer | Vicarious Authority | Delegation | Succession (Executive) | Commander | Principal and Agent | De Facto Officer | Commission (Military) | Appointment Power
LIEUTENANTmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
1. A deputy; substi- tute; an officer who supplies the place of another; one acting by vicarious authority. Etymologically, one who holds the post or of- fice of another, in the place and stead of the latter. 2. The word is used in composition as part of the title of several civil and military of-
LIEUTENANTmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
An of ficer of the army whose rank is above that of a major and below that of a colonel. A
LIEUTENANTmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
rent when they are of the same rank, and for supplies or materials or services in preparation for the same voyage, or if they arise on different bottomry bonds to different holders for advances at the same time for the same repairs. The J. W. Tucker (D. C.) 20 Fed. 13 uie table‘liens are such as exist in equity, and of which courts of equity alone take cognizance. A lien is neither a jus in re nor a jus ad rem. It is not property in the thing, nor does it constitute a right of action for the thing. It more roperly constitutes a charge upon the thing. uitable liens most commonly grow out of constructive trusts. Story, Eq. Jur. § 1215. An equitable lien is a right, not recognized at law, to have a fund or specific property, or the proceeds of its sale, applied in full or in part to the payment of a particular debt or class of 3 Sugar pera Co. v. Ferris Sugar Mfg. Co. (C. C.) 78 Fed. 421; The Menominie (D. C.) Fed. 199; Fallon v. Worthington, 18 Colo. 559, 22 Pac. 960, 6 L. R. A. 708, 16 Am. St. Rep. 231; In re Lesser (D. C.) 100 Fed. 436.—First lien. One which takes priority or precedence over all other charges or Incumbrances upon the same Bgl of property, and which must be satisfied before such other char are entitled to participate in the proceeds of its sale-—Second Hen. One which takes rank immediately ofter a first lien on the Same property and is next entitled to satisfaction out of the proceeds.—Lien creditor. One whose debt or claim is secured by a lien on particular property, as distinguished from a “general” creditor, who has no such security. —Lien of a covenant. The commencement of a covenant stating the names of the covenantors and covenantees, and the character of the covenant, whether joint or several. Wharton.—Relien, The lien which an attorney has upon all his client’s papers, deeds, vouchers, etc., which remain in his possession, entitling him to retain them until satisfaction of his claims for protceionsl services. In re Wilson (D. C.) 12 ed. 239; In re Lexington Ave., 30 App. Div. 602, 52 N. Y. Supp. 203.—Becret Hen. A lien reserved by the vendor of chattels, who has delivered them to the vendee, to secure the payment of the price, which is concealed from al] third persons. As to the particular kinds of liens de scribed as “Bailee’s,” “Judgment,” “Mari-- time,” “Mechanics’,” “Municipal,” and “Vendors’ ”’ liens, see those titles. 1. A deputy; substi tute; an officer who supplies the place of another; one acting by vicarious authority. Etymologically, one who holds the post or office of another, in the place and stead of the latter. . 2. The word is used in composition as part of the title of several civil and military officers, who are subordinate to others, and especially where the duties and powers of the higher officer may, in certain contingencies, devolve upon the lower; as lieutenant governor, lieutenant colonel, etc. See énfra. 3. In the army, a lieutenant is a commissioned officer, ranking next below a captain. In the United States navy, he is an officer whose rank is intermediate between that of an ensign and that of a Heutenant commander. In the British navy, his rank is next below that of a commander. —Lieutenant colonel. An officer of the army whose rank is above that of a major and below that of a colonel.—Lieutenant commander. A commissioned officer of the United States navy, whose rank is above that of lieutenant and below that of commander.—Lieutenant meral. An officer in the army, whose rank above that of major general and below that of “general of the army.’”’ In the United States, this rank is not permanent, being usually created for special persons or in times of war.— Lieutenant governor. In English law. A deputy-governor, acting as the chief civil officer of one of several colonies under a governor general. Webster. In American law. An officer of a state, sometimes charged with special duties, but chiefly important as the deputy or substitute of the governor, acting in the place of the governor upon the lJatter’s death, resignation, or disability.
LIEUTENANTn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
An officer who supplies the place of a superior in his absence; a representative of, or substitute for, another in the performance of any duty. The lawful magistrate, who is the vicegerent or lieutenant of God. Abp. Bramhall. A commissioned officer in the army, next below a captain. A commissioned officer in the British navy, in rank next below a commander. A commissioned officer in the United States navy, in rank next below a lieutenant commander.
lieutenantnoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
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The lowest junior commissioned officer rank(s) in many military forces, often Army and Marines. | In the US Army, Air Force and Marines, holding the rank above second lieutenant and below captain. Both ranks may be referred to as "lieutenant" or as the complete forms of the ranks. | The lowest junior commissioned officer rank(s) in many military forces, often Army and Marines. | A naval officer whose rank is above that of ensign in the United States Navy and below that of a lieutenant commander. There are two ranks of lieutenant: lieutenant junior grade and lieutenant. | The lowest junior commissioned officer rank(s) in many military forces, often Army and Marines. | A commissioned officer in the United States Coast Guard, Public Health Service, or National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration whose rank is above that of ensign and below lieutenant commander. There are two ranks of lieutenant: lieutenant junior grade and lieutenant. | The lowest junior commissioned officer rank(s) in many military forces, often Army and Marines. | A commissioned officer in the British Army and Royal Marines, holding the rank above second lieutenant and below captain. Both ranks may be referred to as "lieutenant"; however, "second lieutenant" is to specify that the officer is not yet a full lieutenant. | The lowest junior commissioned officer rank(s) in many military forces, often Army and Marines. | A naval officer whose rank is above that of sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy and below that of a lieutenant commander. | The lowest junior commissioned officer rank(s) in many military forces, often Army and Marines. | A naval commissioned officer who holds the rank above sub-lieutenant and below lieutenant commander. | A person who manages or executes the plans and directives of another, more senior person; a manager to their director. | The second-in-command (2IC) of a group.
lieutenantadj
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
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A military grade that is junior to the grade the adjective modifies: lieutenant colonel, lieutenant general, lieutenant commander.
Lieutenantnoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
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Alternative letter-case form of lieutenant (when used as a title before a name)

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