Definition
A Moor is a local administrative officer in the Isle of Man responsible for summoning the courts for the several sheadings — the island's primary geographic and jurisdictional divisions, roughly analogous to English hundreds. The office is ministerial in character: the Moor's core function is convening proceedings rather than adjudicating them. In that respect, the role parallels the English bailiff of a hundred, who similarly performed administrative and process-serving duties within a defined territorial subdivision.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Primarily a surname in modern English, with Irish and transferred given-name origins. No substantive common meaning in contemporary general use.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): A member of a mixed-race population inhabiting North Africa — Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli — associated with the Mohammedan religion and, in Spanish historical writing, used interchangeably with Saracen and Arab.
Neither the modern surname usage nor the historical ethnic designation has any relationship to the legal office defined above. A researcher encountering "Moor" in Isle of Man legal records should not import either common meaning. The legal term is an entirely distinct term of art specific to Manx administrative law.
Why It Matters in Research
This term is a narrow Isle of Man localism and will not appear in standard English common law materials. Researchers working in Manx legal history, sheading court records, or comparative studies of insular jurisdictions within the British Isles are the primary audience for this entry.
Key navigational points:
First, the Isle of Man operates under its own legal system — Manx law — which is distinct from both English common law and Scots law. Sources on English hundred administration, while illustrative of the Moor's analogous function, are not directly applicable to Manx proceedings. Do not assume English authorities on the bailiff of a hundred govern the Moor's duties or legal standing.
Second, the sheading is the organizing concept for this office. There are six sheadings in the Isle of Man, each historically having its own court structure. Understanding the Moor requires understanding the sheading system; these terms are inseparable in the corpus.
Third, because Black's Law Dictionary provides only this brief cross-reference to English practice, researchers should treat the dictionary entry as a pointer rather than a complete account. Manx-specific sources — including the records of the Tynwald, the island's legislature, and historical studies of Manx customary law — will be necessary for any substantive research beyond identifying that the office exists.
Fourth, researchers should be alert to potential confusion with the common English word "moor" (uncultivated open land), which appears frequently in property law, commons law, and real property descriptions across English and Welsh legal history. A "moor" in a conveyance or enclosure document is land, not an officer.
Historical Dictionary Support
Both editions of Black's Law Dictionary provide identical entries, indicating no revision or elaboration between editions. The entry is brief even by the standards of historical legal dictionaries — a single sentence of definition plus a one-clause analogy to English practice. This compression is typical of how historical dictionaries treated insular and regional offices that operated outside the mainstream of English common law.
The analogy to the bailiff of a hundred is the most substantive information either source provides. The bailiff of a hundred in English law was a sheriff's officer responsible for executing process within the hundred — a territorial subdivision below the county — and for related administrative functions including, in some periods, summoning the hundred court. The parallel to the Moor's court-summoning function is apt at the functional level, though the Manx constitutional context differs.
Neither edition of Black's addresses the Moor's authority, term of office, method of appointment, or relationship to other Manx officers such as the coroner (a Manx office distinct from the English coroner). The historical dictionaries do not indicate whether the office was still active at the time of either edition's publication. Researchers should not assume continuity of the office into the modern period without independent verification in Manx sources.
Jurisdictional Note
This office is specific to the Isle of Man, a Crown dependency with its own parliament (the Tynwald) and legal system. Manx law is neither English law nor governed by Acts of the Westminster Parliament except where expressly extended. Researchers must use Manx primary sources rather than English legal authorities when investigating this office in depth.