Council (redirected from Council (government))

A legislative body of local government. A group of persons who, whether elected or appointed, serve as representatives of the public to establish state or municipal policies and to assist the chief executive of the government unit in the performance of duties.

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COUNCIL, legislation. This word signifies an assembly.
     2. It was used among the Romans to express the meeting of only a part of the people, and that the most respectable, in opposition to the assemblies of the whole people.
     3. It is now usually applied to the legislative bodies of cities and boroughs.
     4. In some states, as in Massachusetts, a body of men called the council, are elected, whose duties are to advise the governor in the executive part of the government. Const. of Mass. part 2, c. 2, s. 3, art. 1 and 2. See 14 Mass. 470; 3 Pick. 517; 4 Pick. 25 19 John. R. 58. In England, the king's council are the king's judges of his courts of justice. 3 Inst. 125; 1 Bl. Com. 229.