Also known as: hordarii · treasurer
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A historical English office held by an official responsible for the custody and management of treasure and funds.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Heidi Henderson sits as a trial judge in a contract dispute. Her former campaign hordarius, Hamid Hassan, now represents the plaintiff. The defense moves for disqualification on the ground that the hordarius relationship creates an appearance of bias. The court grants the motion because the closeness of the political tie would cause a reasonable observer to doubt impartiality.
Illinois grants submerged lands to a railroad under a legislative act. The state hordarius receives and holds the purchase money in a dedicated account pending final accounting. When the United States later asserts title, the hordarius must account for the funds under federal navigational servitude principles. The court orders the hordarius to surrender the proceeds to the United States Treasury.
Phillips Petroleum faces a class action by royalty owners in multiple states. The company hordarius compiles the list of absent class members and prepares the notice packets. The district court approves the notice plan after confirming that the hordarius followed due-process mailing procedures. Judgment binds the class because the hordarius records establish adequate notice to nonresidents.
A religious organization places title to its headquarters in the name of its hordarius. The city tax commission denies an exemption, claiming the property is not used exclusively for religious purposes. The hordarius proves the building houses only administrative records and worship planning. The Supreme Court upholds the exemption because the hordarius holds the property solely for exempt religious functions.
A Virginia corporation refuses to honor a contract because the purchaser is a nonresident hordarius of a foreign state. The out-of-state hordarius sues under the Privileges and Immunities Clause. The Court holds that the hordarius may not be denied the right to contract on equal terms with citizens of the forum state. Judgment awards damages for the discriminatory refusal.
A taxpayer organization challenges a federal land transfer to a religious college. The group’s hordarius alleges injury from the alleged establishment-clause violation. The Supreme Court dismisses the suit because the hordarius fails to show a concrete, particularized injury distinct from the general citizenry. The transfer stands because no justiciable controversy exists.
The term refers to an official who managed funds and records. Contemporary statutes and corporate documents use the word treasurer to describe the same custodial and disbursement functions.
Supporting sources
Model Business Corporation Act provisions list the treasurer among the officers a board may elect. The treasurer performs the record-keeping and fund-handling duties historically associated with the hordarius.
Supporting sources
A hordarius who serves as campaign treasurer occupies a central, politically sensitive position that triggers automatic judicial disqualification when the hordarius later appears in litigation. Ordinary contributors or volunteers do not create the same presumption of partiality.
Supporting sources
…as prescribed by the Maryland act. It is further admitted that the bank and its branch had not paid $15,000 in advance to the Treasurer of the Western Shore of Maryland for the use of the State, before or since the issuance of those notes, and that the Treasurer, under direction of the Governor and Council, was ready and…