English

Noun

custos rotulorum

1. (historical) The main justice of the peace in a given county.
   • 1871–72, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Chapter 3

     Mr. Casaubon made a dignified though somewhat sad audience; [...] mindful that this desultoriness was associated with the institutions of the country, and that the man who took him on this severe mental scamper was not only an amiable host, but a landholder and custos rotulorum.

Related terms

• custos regni