Office in United Kingdom

Concept of Office

The following is an old definition of Office [1], a term which has several meanings:1. A right to exercise a public or private employment, and to take the fees and emoluments thereunto belonging. The right, and correspondent duty, to execute a public or private trust, and to take the emoluments belonging to it. That function by virtue whereof a person has some employment in the affairs of another. A public station or employment, conferred by the appointment of government, and embracing the ideas of tenure, duration, emolument, and duties. Offices may be classed as civil and military; and civil offices as political, judicial, and ministerial. Judicial offices are those which relate to the administration of justice. Ministerial offices are those which give the officer no power to judge of the matter to be done, and require him to obey the mandates of a superior. Political offices are such as are not immediately connected with the administration of justice, or the execution of the mandates of a superior officer. A civil office, at common law, is regarded as a burden wliich, in the interest of the commimity and of good government, the appointee is bound to bear. Hence, an office cannot be laid down without the consent of the appointing power, in order that public interests may not suffer. A resignation is complete when the proper authority accepts it, or, what is tantamount, appoints a successor. Public offices are trusts, held solely for the public good. They are conferred from considerations of the ability, integrity, and fitness of the appointee. Whatever introduces other elements to control the appointing power must necessarily lower the character of the appointments, to the detriment of the public. Agreements for compensation to procure these appointments tend to introduce such elements, and are therefore viewed as inconsistent with sound morals and public policy. The incumbent of an office has not, under our system of government, any property in it. His right to exercise it is not based upon any contract or grant. It is conferred as a trust to be exercised for the benefit of the public. Such salary as may be attached to it is designed to enable the incumbent the better to perform the duties by the more exclusive devotion of his time thereto. A public office and its creation is a matter of public, not of private law. The decisions of some States proceed upon the ground that an incumbent has a property in his office and that he cannot be deprived of his right without the judgment of a court; a view suppoi-ted by the doctrines of the common law which regarded an office as an hereditament, but which has no foundation in a representative government. An office of constitutional creation is beyond the control of tiie legislature, except as prescribed in the constitution. The salary or compensation provided by the constitution is an incident to the office, and cannot be detached from it

Alternative Meaning

A place for transacting business, public or private. Office book. See Document, Public; Record. Office copy. See Copy. Office found. At common law, an alien may take realty by act of the grantor, and bold it until “office found;” that is, until the fact of alienage is authoritatively established by a public officer, upon an inquest held at the instance of the government. The proceeding which contains the finding is technically designated as “office found.” It removes the fact from the region of uncertainty and makes it a matter of record. It was devised as a means to give the king his right by solemn matter of record, without which he could neither take nor part with anything. Some equivalent proceeding was essential at civil law. The proceeding was necessary before the sovereign could devest title. See Inquest, Of office. Officer. One lawfully invested with an office. One invested by a superior authority, particularly by government, with the duty of transacting affairs of a certain class; an incumbent of an office; a person designated to execute some function of government. The word ” officer ” is very elastic. As applied to the military establishments of the army and navy, it would be more definite, perhaps, and somewhat so as applied to the civil establishments, where there are indicia of authority to point them out; but, as used in statutes, the term often cannot be so confined. Even by common understanding in the army and navy, as well as in the civil service, there are distinctions, social, technical, and arbitrary, that frequently Influence the judicial determination of administrative regulations. One of the earliest definitions of ” officium ” is ” that function by virtue whereof a man hath some employment in the affairs of another, as of the king or another person.” ” The word principally implies a duty, and then, the charge of such duty; and it is a rule that where a man hath to do with another’s affairs against is’will, and without his leave, that is an office.” In the Revised Statutes or any act or resolution of Congress passed since February 25, 1871, reference to any ” officer ” includes any person authorized by law to perform the duties of such office, unless the context shows that a more restricted sense is meant. One who receives no certificate of appointment, takes no oath of office, has no term or tenure of office, discharges no duties and exercises no powers depending directly on the authority of law, but simply performs such duties as are required of him by the persons employing him, and whose responsibility is limited to them, is not an officer. “Office” implies authority to exercise some portion of the sovereign power of the state. City officer. One whose functions relate exclusively to the local affairs of a city. State officer. One whose duties concern the State at large or the general public. Civil officers. Within the meaning of Art. II, sec. 4, of the Constitution, all officers of the United States who hold their appointments under the national government, whether their duties are executive or judicial, in the Highest or in the lowest departments of the government, with the exception of officers in the army or navy. What is necessary to constitute a person an officer of the United States, in any of the various branches of its service, was very fully considered in United States v. Germaine, 99 U. S. 509-10 (1878), in which case it was distinctly pointed out that, under the Constitution, all its officers were appointed by the President, by and with the consent of the Senate, or by a court of law, or the head of a department, and the heads of the departments were defined to be what are now called the “members of the cabinet.” Unless a person in the service of the government, therefore, holds his place by virtue of an appointment by the President, or of one of the courts of justice or heads of departments authorized by law to make such an appointment, he is not, strictly speaking, an officer of the United States. Where Congress may have used the word ” officer ” in a more popular sense, it is the duty of the court to ascertain such meaning and to be governed accordingly. Commissioned officer; non-commissioned officer. Whenever the United States statutes speak of ” officers ” of the army, they refer to commissioned officers. ” Non-commissioned officers ” are not officers in the sense in which the latter term is generally used. See Cadet. Executive officer. A person in whom resides power to execute the laws. Judicial officer. A person concerned in deciding or administering the law. See Judicial. Legislative officer. A person empowered to assist in enacting laws. Ministerial officer. A person whose duty it is to execute the mandate of a superior officer. See Minister, 1. Officer de facto. Not a mere usurper (see, in this resource, the term), nor yet within the sanction of law, but one who, ” colore officii,” claims and assumes to exercise official authority, is reputed to have it, and the community acquiesces accordingly. Officer de jure. An officer of right, a rightful officer. A de facto ofiQcer is one who discharges the duties of an office under color of title. One who, having been elected to an office, assumes to exercise its duties without having attempted to qualify, is without color of title and not such an officer. One who acts as an officer de facto is estopped from denjong that he is such an officer, even on a criminal prosecution for malfeasance in office. The validity of an act done by one in a public sta- tion is not, as a rule, to be tried by his title. State v. Carroll, 38 Conn. 458-77(1871), which contains an exhaustive examination of the cases, decides that competent authority in the appointing or electing body is not requisite to make a de facto officer. The acts of an officer de facto are held to be valid, because the public good requires it. His acts, within the sphere of the powers and duties of the office, are as binding as the acts of an officer de jure: as. for example, the act of a judge de facto. There can be no officer, either de jure or de facto, if there be no office to fill. The doctrine which gives validity to acts of officers de facto, whatever defects there may be in the legality of their appointment or election, is founded upon considerations of policy and necessity, for the protection of the public and individuals whose interests may be affected thereby. Offices are created tor the benefit of the public, and private parties are not permitted to inquire into the title of persons clothed with the evidence of such offices and in apparent possession of their powers and functions. For the good order and peace of society, their authority is to be respected and obeyed until in some regular mode prescribed by law their title is investigated and determined. Endless confusion would result if in every proceeding before such officers their title could be called in question. But the idea of an officer implies the existence of an office which he holds. In ordinary cases, where an election of officers of a corporation has been omitted, the old officers may continue to act as officers de facto, beyond their regular term (though not compelled to do so), and their acts will bind the corporation; but not so, where the functions of the corporation have been abrogated or superseded. Public officer. A person who has some duty to perform concerning the public. Where an individual has been appointed or elected in a manner required by law, has a designation or title given him by law, and exercises functions concerning the public, assigned to him by law, he must be re- garded as a ” public officer.” It is well settled that a court of equity has no jurisdiction over the appointment and removal of public officers, whether the power of removal, as well as that of appointment, is vested in executive or administrative boards or officers, or is intrusted to a judicial tribunal. The jurisdiction to determine the title to a public office belongs exclusively to the courts of law, and is exercised either by certiorari, error, or appeal, or by mandamus, prohibition, or quo warranto, according to the circumstances of the case, and the established mode of procedure. Superior officer; inferior officer. These expressions designate, respectively, an official high, or low, in grade or rank, or one in authority over, or subordinate to, another. The President ” shall’ nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law; but the Congress may by Law vest the. Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.” “Inferior officer” here means one subordinate to those officers in whom the power of appointment may be vested by act of Congress, to wit, .the President, the courts of law, and the heads of departments. The rule of official obligation, as imposed by law, is that the officer shall perform the duties of his office honestly, faithfully, and to the best of his ability. This is the substance of all official oaths. In ordinary cases, to expect more than this would deter upright and reasonable men from taking office. This is substantially the rule by which the common law measures the responsibility of those whose official duties require them to have the custody of property, public or private. If a more stringent obligation is desirable, it must-be prescribed by statute or exacted by express Stipulation. No public officer is responsible in a civil suit for a judicial determination, however erroneous it may be, or however malicious the motive which produced it. The government does not guarantee the integrity of its officers nor the validity of their acts. It prescribes rules for them, requires an oath for the faithful dis- charge of their duties, exacts a bond with stringent conditions; provides penalties for their misconduct or fraud; but there its responsibility ends. They are but the servants of the law; if they depart from its requirements the government is not bound. Official. 1. An officer, see, in this resource, the term 2. Pertaining to the functions of an office : as, an official – act, bond, certificate, communication, oath, report and reporter, qsee, in this resource, the term Opposed, (1) extra-official: beyond or out- side of the legitimate functions of one’s office : as, an extra-official act; (2) unofficial: as, an unofficial report, see, in this resource, the term See further Amotion; Arrest, 2 (2, 3); Color, 2; Compensation, 1; Continuance, 3; Corporation; County; Disability; Embezzlement; Emolument; Extortion; Fee, 2; Government; Impeach, 4; Incompatible; Liberty, 1, Of the press; Magistrate; Marshal, 1; Misdemeanor, 1; Oath, Of office; Obstruct, 3; Officium; Onus, Cum onere; Personate; Power, Appointing; Qualify; Rank; Reinstate; Resignation; Revenue; Service, 3, Civil; Sheriff; Tenure, 2; Tort; Vacancy; Warrant, 2; Writ.

Office in the Building (Scotland) Act 2003

Meaning of Office in the context of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003: a building or premises used for office, administrative or clerical purposes (including writing, book-keeping, sorting papers, filing, typing, duplicating, machine calculating, police and fire service work, drawing and editorial preparation of work for publication), financial transactions (including banking and building society work) and communications (including postal, telegraph and radio, television, film, audio or video recording or performance (not open to the public), communication or control).

Resources

Notes and References

1. Meaning of Office provided by the Anderson Dictionary of Law (1889)