burgeon (berjon)

i. [Also written bourgeon, after mod. F., early mod. E. also burgein, bur gen, IMG:content-2757.png:[blocks in formation] berger, bourgeois burge (ber'jes), n. [ citizen, Not a petty burge of some town, No, not a villager, hath yet appear'd In your a istance. Ford , Perkin Warbeck, iii. 4. 2. A representative of a borough in the British Parliament. The majority of the burge es had been returned by constituent bodies remodelled in a manner which was generally regarded as illegal. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., x. Hence-3. ( a ) The title given before the revolution to the representatives in the popular branch of the legislature of Virginia, which was styled the House of Burge es, but is now called the House of Delegates. (b) The title of members of the lower house in the colonial legislature of Maryland.-4. A magistrate of a corporate town. In Connecticut boroughs the board of burge es corresponds to the township board or board of trustees in some other States, or to the common council of a city. The chief executive officer of a Penn sylvan i an bor ough is called the chief burge . 5. A member of the corporation of a Scotch burgh; now, any inhabitant of a burgh of full age, rated for poor-rates, and not in arrears, and who for a period of three years has occupied any house, shop, or other building in it, not being an alien and not having received either grave . IMG:content-2758.png:[graphic] E. and Sc. and old law form of E. borough1, ME. burgh, burz, etc., AS. burh: see borough1.] A corporate town or borough; more especially, the Scotch term corresponding to the English borough, applied to several different kinds of corporations, and to towns and cities in Scotland. Burgh acres, acres or small patches of land lying in the neighborhood of royal burghs, usually feued out to and occupied by burge es or persons resident within the burgh. - Burgh of barony, a corporation somewhat analogous to a royal burgh, consisting of a determinate tract of ground within the barony, erected by the feudal superior and subjected to the government of magistrates. The right of electing magistrates is vested by the charter of erection sometimes in the superior of the barony, and sometimes the inhabitants themselvese Burgh of regality as kind of burgh of baron which had regaloveclusive jurisdic within its own territory. - Convention of royal burghs. See convention. - Councilor of a burgh, See councilor. Free burgh, a burgh of barony which enjoyed, by crown charter, rights of trade both home and foreign, but which at the same time had to bear certain public burdens as the price of its privileges. - Parliamentary burgh, a burgh or town which sends, or unites with others in sending, a representative to Parliament. In parliamentary burghs the mode of electing councilors and magistrates is the same as in royal burghs. - Police burgh, in England, any populous place the boundaries of which have been ascertained under 13 and 14 Vict., xxxiii., and the affairs of which are managed by commi ioners elected by the inhabitants. - Royal burgh, in Scotland, a corporate body erected by a charter from the crown. The corporation consists of the magistrates and burge es of the territory erected into the burgh. The magistrates are generally a provost and bailies, dean of gild, treasurer, and common council.