In the civil law. An advocate or patron; a burgess or recorder; an agent or attorney who acts for a corporation or university; an actor or procurator; an assignee. Wharton. See Minnesota L. & T. Co. v. Beebe, 40 Minn. 7, ’41 N. W. 232, 2 L. R. A. 418; Mobile & O. R. Co. v. Whitney, 39 Ala. 471. In French law. The person who is commissioned by the courts to administer a bank- ruptcy. He fulfills the same functions as the trustee in English law, or assignee in Amer ica. The term is also applied to the person appointed to manage the affairs of a corporation. See Field v. United States, 9 Pet. 182, 9 L. Ed. 94.