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 the commanding officer, issues his orders, superintends the work of the orderly room and the general administration of the corps, and is responsible for musketry duties and the training of recruits. Regular officers are appointed as adjutants to all units of the auxiliary forces. On the European continent the word is not restricted to the lower units of organization; for example, in Germany the Adjutantur includes all “routine” as distinct from “general” staff officers in the higher units, and the aides-de-camp of royal persons and of the higher commanders are also styled adjutant-generals, flügel-adjutanten, &c. For the so-called adjutant bird see.

ADJUTANT-GENERAL, an army official, originally (as indicated by the word) the chief assistant (Lat. adjuvare) staff-officer to a general in command, but now a distinct high functionary at the head of a special office in the British and American war departments. In England the second military member of the Army Council is styled adjutant-general to the forces. He is a general officer and at the head of his department of the War Office, which is charged with all duties relative to personnel. The adjutant-general of the United States army is one of the principal officers in the war department, the head of the bureau for army correspondence, with the charge of the records, recruiting, issue of commissions, &c. Individual American states also have their own adjutant-general, with cognate duties regarding the state militia. In many countries, such as Germany and Russia, the term has retained its original meaning of an officer on the personal staff, and is the designation of personal aides-de-camp to the sovereign.

By a looseness of translation, the superintendents of provinces, in the order of Jesuits, who act as officials under the superintendence of and auxiliary to the general, are sometimes called adjutants-general.

ADLER, FELIX (1851–), American educationalist, was born at Alzey, Germany, on the 13th of August 1851. His father, a Jewish rabbi, emigrated to the United States in 1857, and the son graduated at Columbia College in 1870. After completing his studies at Berlin and Heidelberg, he became, in 1874, professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature at Cornell University. In 1876 he established in New York City the Society for Ethical Culture, to the development and extension of which he devoted a great deal of time and energy, and before which he delivered a regular Sunday lecture. In 1902 he became professor of political and social ethics at Columbia University. He also acted as one of the editors of the International Journal of Ethics. Under his direction the Society for Ethical Culture became an important factor in educational reform in New York City, exercising through its technical training school and kindergarten (established in January 1878) a wide influence. Dr Adler also took a prominent part in philanthropic and social reform movements, such as the establishment of a system of district nursing, the erection of model tenement houses, and tenement house reform. He published Creed and Deed (1877), The Moral Instruction of Children (1892), Life and Destiny (1903), Marriage and Divorce (1905), and The Religion of Duty (1905).

ADMETUS, in Greek legend, son of Pheres, king of Pherae in Thessaly. By the aid of Apollo, who served him as a slave—either as a punishment for having slain the Cyclopes, or out of affection for his mortal master—he won the hand of Alcestis, the most beautiful of the daughters of Pelias, king of Iolcus. When Admetus was attacked by an illness that threatened to lead to his premature death, Apollo persuaded the Moerae (Fates) to prolong his life, provided any one could be found to die in his place. His parents refused, but Alcestis consented. She is said to have been rescued from the hands of Death by Heracles, who arrived upon the scene at an opportune moment; a later story represents her as cured of a dangerous illness by his skill.

ADMINISTRATION (Lat. administrare, to serve), the performance or management of affairs, a term specifically used in law for the administration or disposal of the estate of a deceased person (see .) It is also used generally for “government,” and specifically for “the government” or the executive ministry, and in such connexions as the administration (administering or tendering) of the sacraments, justice, oaths, medicines, &c.

Letters of Administration.—Upon the death of a person intestate or leaving a will to which no executors are appointed, or when the executors appointed by the will cannot or will not act, the Probate Division of the High Court is obliged to appoint an administrator who performs the duties of an executor. This is done by the court granting letters of administration to the person entitled. Grants of administration may be either general or limited. A general grant is made where the deceased has died intestate. The order in which general grants of letters will be made by the court is as follows: (1) The husband, or widow, as the case may be; (2) the next of kin; (3) the crown; (4) a creditor; (5) a stranger. Since the Land Transfer Act 1897, the administrator is the real as well as the personal representative of the deceased, and consequently when the estate to be administered consists wholly or mainly of reality the court will grant administration to the heir to the exclusion of the next of kin. In the absence of any heir or next of kin the crown is entitled to the personality as bona vacantia, and to the reality by escheat. If a creditor claims and obtains a grant he is compelled by the court to enter into a bond with two sureties that he will not prefer his own debt to those of other creditors. The more important cases of grants of special letters of administration are the following:—

Administration cum testamento annexo, where the deceased has left a will but has appointed no executor to it, or the executor appointed has died or refuses to act. In this case the court will make the grant to the person (usually the residuary legatee) with the largest beneficial interest in the estate.

Administration de bonis non administratis: this occurs in two cases—(a) where the executor dies intestate after probate without having completely administered the estate; (b) where an administrator dies. In the first case the principle of administration cum testamento is followed, in the second that of general grants in the selection of the person to whom letters are granted.

Administration durante minore aetate, when the executor or the person entitled to the general grant is under age.

Administration durante absentia, when the executor or administrator is out of the jurisdiction for more than a year.

Administration pendente lite, where there is a dispute as to the person entitled to probate or a general grant of letters the court appoints an administrator till the question has been decided.

ADMINISTRATOR, in English law, the person to whom the Probate Division of the High Court of Justice (formerly the ordinary or judge of the ecclesiastical court) acting in the sovereign’s name, commits the (q.v.) of the goods of a person deceased, in default of an executor. The origin of administrators is derived from the civil law. Their establishment in England is owing to a statute made in the 31st year of Edward I. (1303). Till then no office of this kind was known besides that of executor; in default of whom, the ordinary had the disposal of goods of persons intestate, &c. (See also, and, for intestate estates, .)

in Scots law, is a person legally empowered to act for another whom the law presumes incapable of acting for himself, as a father for a pupil child.

ADMIRAL, the title of the general officer who commands a fleet, or subdivision of a fleet. The origin of the word is undoubtedly Arabic. In the 12th century the Mediterranean states which had close relations with the Moslem powers on the shores or in the islands of that sea, found the title amir or emir in combination with other words used to describe men in authority; the amir-al-mumenin—prince of the faithful—or amir-al-bahr—commander of the sea. They took the substantive “amir” and the article “al” to form one word, “amiral” or “ammiral” or “almirante.” The Spaniards made miramamolin, out of amiral-mumenin, in the same way. “Amiral,” as the name of an eastern ruler, became familiar to the northern nations during the crusades. Layamon, writing in the early