The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

ALCALDE

An Alcalde or Alcaide is the magistrate in the Spanish and Portuguese towns, to whom the administration of justice and the regulation of the police is committed. His office nearly corresponds to that of the British justice of the peace. The name and the office are of Moorish origin.

An Alcalde was the principal officer in the local government of the earlier towns of California, USA. The office was borrowed from the Spanish settlements, and was first introduced in the mining camps, where the miners made laws and elected officers to enforce them.
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