cursitor

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical English law: a clerk in the Court of Chancery who prepared original writs issued as a matter of routine

   The cursitor prepared the original writ before the action could proceed in common law.

2. 2
   noun

   in the title cursitor baron: a junior Exchequer officer responsible for routine revenue business and the examination of accounts

   The committee submitted its annual account to the cursitor baron of the Exchequer.

3. 3
   noun

   obsolete: a courier, runner, or itinerant person

   The cursitor carried the message rapidly between the two courts.

From Anglo-French coursetour and Medieval Latin cursitor ('runner'), related to Latin cursor. The legal title referred to clerks who issued writs de cursu, 'of course'; cursitor baron likewise denoted an officer handling the routine course of Exchequer business.

Topics