The Collaborative International Dictionary
Attorney \At*tor"ney\, n.; pl. Attorneys. [OE. aturneye, OF. atorn['e], p. p. of atorner: cf. LL. atturnatus, attornatus, fr. attornare. See Attorn.]
-
A substitute; a proxy; an agent. [Obs.]
And will have no attorney but myself.
--Shak. -
(Law)
One who is legally appointed by another to transact any business for him; an attorney in fact.
-
A legal agent qualified to act for suitors and defendants in legal proceedings; an attorney at law.
Note: An attorney is either public or private. A private attorney, or an attorney in fact, is a person appointed by another, by a letter or power of attorney, to transact any business for him out of court; but in a more extended sense, this class includes any agent employed in any business, or to do any act in pais, for another. A public attorney, or attorney at law, is a practitioner in a court of law, legally qualified to prosecute and defend actions in such court, on the retainer of clients.
--Bouvier. -- The attorney at law answers to the procurator of the civilians, to the solicitor in chancery, and to the proctor in the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts, and all of these are comprehended under the more general term lawyer. In Great Britain and in some states of the United States, attorneys are distinguished from counselors in that the business of the former is to carry on the practical and formal parts of the suit. In many states of the United States however, no such distinction exists. In England, since 1873, attorneys at law are by statute called solicitors.A power, letter, or warrant, of attorney, a written authority from one person empowering another to transact business for him.
Usage examples of "of attorney".
Out of character as a champion for civil liberties, Hoover stormed into the office of Attorney General John Mitchell and demanded the order be withdrawn.
Ferris had told him that he would have to present a power of attorney, so that’.
No bond, no auditing, none of that claptrap-a written power of attorney if you want it.
No bond, no auditing, none of that claptrap - a written power of attorney if you want it.
I don't think anybody else will get in there until he's ready to sign a power of attorney.
Terminal individuals, or persons with power of attorney for same, please apply in confidence to Hobson Monitoring (net: HOBMON).
Stephen had an instant, brilliantly clear vision of the attorney's office in Portsmouth in which the document requiring his bank to transfer all he possessed to Smith and Clowes was written, together with a power of attorney addressed to Sir Joseph Blaine, who was also the executor of his will - a document framed by an able lawyer, a man of business thoroughly accustomed to dealing with shifts, evasions and bad faith, an aged dusty man who took real pleasure in his task, his toothless jaws munching as his pen scratched on and on.
The explanation was that in the tedium of copying the lawyer's power of attorney his mind had wandered to an almost finished note to Diana.
I wound up with a limited power of attorney that gave me authority for medical decisions.