Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/617

* MINING ENGINEERS. 553 MINISTER'S WOOING. motion of the arts and sciences connected with the economical production of minerals and metals, the discussion of professional papers, and the circulation of information connected with mining interests. Tt had a membership at the close of 1902 of S.^OO, made up of honorary, elected, and associate members. The annual meet- ing of the Institute is held in February, with other meetings during the year as authorized by the council. The Institute publishes a volume of Trniisnrlioiis each year, besides the papers read before the Institute and accepted. The headquarters of the Institute are in New York. MINING LOCOMOTIVES. See Electric Raii.w.ws: Loco.motive : C'ii.mpressed Air Lo- cnMIJTIVE; STKAM KxGINE. MINISTER (Lat., servant). A public func- tionary who has the chief direction of any de- partment in a State. (See Ministry. ) Also the delegate or representative of a sovereign at a foreign court to treat of affairs of state. Every independent State has a right to send public ministers to, and receive them from, any other sovereign State with which it desires to preserve relations of amit-. Semi-sovereign States have generally been considered not to possess the jus legatlonis, unless when delegated to them by the State on which they are dependent. The right of confederated States to send public min- isters to each other, or to foreign States, de- pends on the nature and constitution of the imion by which they are bound together. The Con- stitution of the United Provinces of the IjOw Coun- tries and of the old (Jernian Empire preserved this right to the individual States or princes, as do the present constitutions of the German Empire and Swiss confederation. The Constitution of the United States either greatly modifies or entirely takes away the jus Icciationis of each individual State. Every sovereign State has a right to receive public ministers from other powers, un- less where obligations to the contrary have been entered into by treaty. The diplomatic usage of Europe recognizes three orders of ministers. Jlinisters of the first order possess the representative character in the highest de- gree, representing the State or sovereign sending them not only in the particular allairs with which they are charged, but in other matters; they may claim the same honors as would be- long to their sovereigns, if present. A prin- ciple of reciprocity is recognized in the class of diplomatic agents sent. States enjoying the honors of royalty send to each other ministers of the first class ; so also in some cases do those States which do not enjoy them : but it is said that no State enjoying such honors can receive ministers of the first class from those who are not possessed of them. Besides these orders of ministers, there are other diplomatic agents occasionally recognized — as deputies sent to a congress or confederacy of .'^tates. and conunissioners sent to settle ter- ritorial limits or disputes concerning jurisdic- tion. These are generally considered to enjoy the privileges of ministers of the second and third orders. Ministers-mediators are ministers sent by two powers between which a dispute has arisen to a foreign court or congress where a third power, or several powers, have, with the consent of the two powers at variance, offered to mediate between them. Ministers sent to a congress or diet have usually no credentials, but merely a full power, of which an authenticated copy is delivered into the hands of a directing minister, or min- ister-mediator. The title 'excellency' has since the peace of Westphalia been accorded to all diplomatic agents of the first class; and in some courts it is ex- tended to ministers of the second class, or at least to those sent by the Great Powers. By the American system ministers to exercise diplomatic functions at foreign courts are ap- pointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. See .-.mb.ssadok; Envoy: C'onsui,,"Meb- CANTILE; DiPLO.MACY; DlPI.OJIATIC AGENTS; Inviolability. See also Cabinet. Consult the authorities referred to under the last three of these titles. MINISTERIAL OFFICER. An oflicer whose functions consist in e-xecuting the com- mand of a superior, or in performing a duty definitely prescribed by law. Its propriety is not left to his judgment or discretion. He is legally bound to perform it; and for a failure to do his duty he is liable in damages to the person in whose favor the duty was to be discharged. A policeman, sheriff, or marshal having a writ for the arrest of a designated person is liable for false imprisonment if he arrests any other person than the one named. Or, he may have arrested the wrong ])erson, because of mistaken information, yet having acted with due caution in making his inquiries. In both eases he is liable. As a rule, the ministerial olhccr acts at his peril. Perhaps the harshest ajiplication of this rule is seen when he enforces legal process under an unconstitutional statute. If, on ap- peal, the statute is declared unconstitutional by the highest court of the State, the judges of the lower court are not civilly responsible for their blunder, but the sheriff who seized and sold property under the execution must respond to the owner for its value. Oftentimes a judicial officer or a legislative body is required to act in a ministerial or execu- tive capacity. Generally speaking, a judge acts ministerially when an application for a writ of habeas corpus is made to him. The law does not leave the granting or withholding of this writ to his discretion. A justice of the peace who has rendered judgment in a case before him is under a pcremptorv duty to issue an execution thereon at the request of the judgment creditor. In issuing or refusing it he acts ministerially, not judicially. If a statute charges a county judge with the duty of select- ing jurors for the various courts sitting in the county, his acts luider the statute arc minis- terial. Whether an act required by law of an officer is judicial or ministerial depends upon its character, and not on the rank of the actor. See Officer, and the articles there referred to. MINISTER'S 'WOOING, The. A story by Harriet Bceclicr Stowe. published as a serial in the Atlnntir Mnnthlii (IS.'iO). The scene is Xew England in the Revolution, wdien Mary Scud- der's lover is supposed to have been (irowned. and the girl is persuaded to many old Dr. Hop- kins, the minister. The lover returns. Mary is true to her promise, but the minister frees her