A public officer belonging to the civil organization of the state, and invested with powers and functions which may be either judicial, legislative, or executive. But the term is commonly used in a narrower sense, designating, in England, a person entrusted with the commission of the peace, and, in America, one of the class of inferior judicial officers, such as justices of the peace and police justices. Martin v. State, 32 Ark. 124; Scanlan v. Wright, 13 Pick. (Mass.) 528, 25 Am. Dec. 344; Ex parte White, 15 Nev. 140, 37 Am. Rep. 400; Kurtz v. State. 22 Fla. 44, 1 Am. St. Rep. 173. A magistrate is an officer having power to issue a warrant for the arrest of a person charged with a public offense. Pen. Code Cal.
Constitution of Virginia
Article I. Bill of Rights
Section 2. People the source of power
That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people, that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.