Ordinary (officer)

Ordinary (officer)

An ordinary (from Latin ordinarius) is an officer of a church or civic authority who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute laws.

Such officers are found in hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ecclesiastical law system. In the Episcopal Church, for example, an ordinary is a diocesan bishop. In Eastern Christianity, a corresponding officer is called a hierarch (from Greek ἱεράρχης (hierarchēs) meaning "president of sacred rites, high-priest" which comes in turn from "ἱερεύς" (hiereus), "priest" + "ἀρχή" (archē), "first place or power, rule").

Within civic governance, notably in the southern United States, the role of the county ordinary historically involved the discharge of certain, often legal or legally related, tasks falling to city or county authorities, such as licensing marriages and adjudicating claims against an authority.