Also 7 Sc. surragat, 8 illit. suragat. [ad. L. surrogātus, assimilated f. subrogātus SUBROGATE pa. pple. Cf. It. surrogato, OF. surrogué.]
1. A person appointed by authority to act in place of another; a deputy. a. gen.
1604. R. Cawdrey, Table Alph., Surrogate, a deputie in anothers place.
c. 1616. Chapman, Homer’s Hymn to Mars, 6. Ioint surrogate of Iustice [orig. συναρωγὲ Θέμιστος].
1618. in T. Pont’s Topogr. Acc. Cunningham (Maitl. Club), 202. Patrik Huntar,… executour-dative surragat, in place of the Procuratour-fischall.
1642. Jer. Taylor, Episc. (1647), 57. A helper, or a Surrogate in Government.
1657. Hawke, Killing is M., 24. Princes make others Surrogates, and Executioners of their Judicial Acts.
b. The deputy of an ecclesiastical judge, of a bishop or bishop’s chancellor, esp. one who grants licences to marry without banns.
1603. Const. & Canons Eccl., xciii. Any Iudge of the Prerogatiue Court, or any his Surrogate or his Register or Apparitor.
1631. Star Chamber Cases (Camden), 76. The said Dunsterfeild … persuaded the said Skinner to goe with him to the Court to gett a licence for the marriage of the said parties. They came before the Surrogate.
1694. E. Chamberlayne, Pres. St. Eng., III. (ed. 18), 359. If he be found duly qualified, the Bishop or his Surrogate, institutes him.
1753. Act 26 Geo. II., c. 33 § 7. That … no Surrogate deputed, by any Ecclesiastical Judge, who hath Power to grant Licences of Marriage, shall [etc.].
1885. Times, 12 Dec., 6/1. Lord Penzance, the president of the court [sc. the York Chancery Court], was represented by a surrogate.
1890. W. Clark Russell, Marriage at Sea, xv. Postscr. The Rev. Thomas Moore, Rector of All-hallows-the-Great, late Surrogate in the Diocese of Canterbury.
1912. G. W. E. Russell, Edward King, iv. 140. The Sentence of Consecration was read by the Surrogate.
c. In the colonies, one appointed to act as judge in the vice-admiralty court in place of a regular judge; in New York and some other States, a judge having jurisdiction over the probate of wills and settlement of estates of deceased persons.
1816. Act 56 Geo. III., c. 82. The judicial Acts of Surrogates who have executed the Offices of Judges in the Courts of Vice Admiralty established in His Majesty’s Plantations and Colonies.
1858. Kent, Comm. Amer. Law (ed. 9), II. V. xxxvii. 530. The first judge of the county acts in cases in which the surrogate is disqualified to act.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Surrogates,… naval captains formerly acting for judges in Newfoundland.
1887. Encycl. Brit., XXII. 695/2. In New Jersey the surrogate is an official of the orphans’ court, grants unopposed probates, &c.
2. fig. and gen. A person or (usually) a thing that acts for or takes the place of another; a substitute. Const. for, of.
1644. Bulwer, Chirol., 15. The Hand was instituted Surrogate and Vicar of the Heart.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah, III. xii. 343. Hereupon a substitute or surrogate was provided for him to bear his Cross.
1830. Blackw. Mag., XXVIII. 267. What corresponding force can be devised…? Certainly no absolute one; but, as the best surrogate, Kant proposes a Federal Union of States.
1845. Foreign Q. Rev., XXXIV. 274. Fixedness of purpose and of principle was to him [Thugut] a surrogate for alacrity.
1869. Carlyle, in Mrs. Carlyle’s Lett., III. 26. Getting up at six, and riding to Clapham Common … by way of surrogate for sleep.
b. spec. = SUBSTITUTE sb. 6 b.
1887. Pall Mall G., 25 Nov., 5/1. The German law orders that the word ‘butter’ shall be expunged from the trade name of all surrogates for butter.
1891. F. L. Oswald, in Voice (N. Y.), 5 Feb. Ground pepper, ground coffee, mustard and tea, are mixed with surrogates too numerous to mention.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 896. Many other drugs are recommended … as surrogates for morphine.
b. attrib. or adj. That is a surrogate; taking the place of or standing for something else; representative.
a. 1638. Mede, Wks. (1672), 604. The Virgin-Christians of the Gentiles, (who are the Surrogate Israel).
1829. 18th Rep. Comm. Crts. Justice Irel., 77, margin. Commission appointing Sir H. Meredyth Surrogate Judge.
1840. J. Wilson, Lect. Anc. Israel, vi. 119. These Christian nations … being the spiritual, or surrogate Israel.
1910. F. C. Conybeare, in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 11), IX. 873/1. It only provided an ἀντίτυπον or surrogate body.
