Also 6 iurate, -att(e, 7–8 jurate. [ad. med.L. jūrāt-us, lit. ‘sworn man,’ sb. use of the pa. pple. of jūrāre to swear. In sense 4 a. the equivalent of F. jurat (orig. a Prov. form = F. juré).]
1. One who has taken an oath; a person who performs some duty on oath; spec. one sworn to give information about the crimes committed in his neighborhood, and in other ways to assist the administration of justice; a juror. Obs. exc. Hist.
1531. Elyot, Gov., III. vii. In iudiciall causes … witnesses and iurates which shall procede in the triall, doo make no lasse othe.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VII., 7. They were thought to have been confederates and Iurates of this newe conspiracy.
1564. in Strype, Ann. Ref. (1709), I. xli. 420. To every Parish belongeth,… Four or Eight Jurats for Offences given and taken.
1660. R. Coke, Power & Subj., 104. Aldred the Archbishop … and Hugh the Bishop of London … wrote that which the jurats had delivered.
1861. Pearson, Early & Mid. Ages Eng., 415. The first step the justices in eyre took … was to impanel four jurats from every township, and twelve from every hundred.
2. A municipal officer (esp. of the Cinque Ports) holding a position similar to that of an alderman.
1464. Rolls Parlt., V. 515/2. Provost and Baillif, Jurates men and Burgeis men and their Successours. Ibid. (1485), 338/1. Bailiff and Jurates … of all and every the said v Portes.
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., XII. xvi. (1886), 209. M. L. Stuppenie, late Jurat of the same towne [New Romney].
1660. Pepys, Diary, 7 May. Here were also all the Jurates of the towne of Dover.
1701. in Gentl. Mag. (1818), LXXXVIII. II. 402. Went to Church [at Gravesend] to which he had seen the Mayor go in procession … attended by his brethren the Jurats, twelve in number.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. VI. 79. A writ of error lies from the mayor and jurats of each port to the lord warden of the cinque ports, in his court of Shepway.
1778. Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2), s.v. Rye, The corporation … consists of a mayor, 12 jurats, and the freemen.
1875. Stubbs, Const. Hist., III. xxi. 561. If these twenty-five jurats are the predecessors of the twenty-five aldermen of the wards.
3. In the Channel Islands, one of a body of magistrates, chosen for life, who in conjunction with the Bailiff form the Royal Court for administration of justice; they are ex officio members of the States.
Their number is twelve for each of the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, and six for Alderney.
[1339. Rolls Parlt., II. 109/2. William Payn, un des Jurez de l’Isle de Gereseye.]
1537. T. Cumptun, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. III. 92. [An] Inventory … made in the presence of the Deane and of too Jurattes of this Isle.
1694. Falle, Jersey, Pref. B iij b. A Gentleman of Iersey … one of the Iurats of the Royal Court of that Island.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. Introd. § 4. 106. All causes are originally determined by their own officers, the bailiffs and jurats of the islands.
1873. J. Lewes, Census 1871, 204. Twelve jurats chosen by the members of the ‘States.’
4. With reference to France, etc.: a. A municipal magistrate in certain towns, as Bordeaux. b. A member of a company or corporation, sworn to see that nothing is done against its statutes.
1432. Rolls Parlt., IV. 406/1. The Mair and Juratz of the Toune of Burdeux.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. lxiii. 85. They of Tourney … made newe prouost, and iurates, acordynge to their auncyent vsages.
1670. Cotton, Espernon, III. IX. 420. Upon the Banks of the River Garonne; where the Jurats of Bordeaux came to receive him.
1714. Fr. Bk. Rates, 123. The Jurats of the Merchants, wholesale Mercers, and Haberdashers of the City of Paris.
1804. Med. Jrnl., XII. 542. I informed the Jurats, that … my colleague or myself would return to the isle [Malta].
