Is the office of magistrate a ministerial office?

[allodial]

We all know (or should know) that a magistrate is a puisne judicial officer.

The distinction seems to be between judicial, quasi-judicial, and ministerial offices.


How come I feel like this is concerning if "the emperor has clothes" or not?

Cops are a type of magistrate--think, "justice of the peace" or "conservator of the peace".

In modern usage, a magistrate is a judge or lawyer who hears cases in courts. In the United Kingdom, the term magistrate usually refers to a volunteer of the Magistrates' Courts, whereas in North America it refers to an officer of the state. Formerly, in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest ranking government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a magistrate has limited law enforcement and administration authority. In civil law systems, a magistrate may be a judge in a superior court, where the magistrates' court might have jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases. A related but not always equivalent term is chief magistrate which historically can denote a political and administrative officer.