ORDINARY, in canon law, the name commonly employed to designate a superior ecclesiastic exercising "ordinary" jurisdic tion (iurisdictionem ordinariam), i.e., in accordance with the nor mal organization of the Church. It is usually applied to the bishop of a diocese and to those who exercise jurisdiction in the name of the bishop or by delegation of his functions. In English law, however, the term ordinary is now confined to the bishop and the chancellor of his court. The pope is the ordinarius of the whole Roman Catholic Church, and is sometimes described as ordinarius ordinariorum. Similarly in the Church of England the king is legally the supreme ordinary, as the source of jurisdiction.
In England the only instance of the term ordinary being em ployed in its civil application was that of the office of judge ordinary created by the Divorce Act of 1857, a title which was, however, only in existence for about 18 years owing to the incor poration of the divorce court with the high court of justice by the Judicature Act, 1875. But in Scotland the ordinary judges of the
inner and outer houses are called lords ordinary, the junior lord ordinary of the outer house acts as lord ordinary of the bills, the second junior as lord ordinary on teinds, the third junior as lord ordinary on exchequer causes. In the United States the ordinary possesses, in the States where such an officer exists, powers vested in him by the constitution and acts of the legislature identical with those usually vested in the courts of probate. In South Carolina he was a judicial officer, but the office no longer exists, as South Carolina has now a probate court.