Syndic

Syndic (Latin: syndicus; Greek: σύνδικος, sýndikos, 'one who helps in a court of justice, an advocate, representative') is a term applied in certain countries to an officer of government with varying powers, and secondly to a representative or delegate of a university, institution or other corporation, entrusted with special functions or powers.

Du Cange, after defining the word as defensor, patronus, advocatus, proceeds: "Syndici maxime appellantur Actores universitatum, collegiorum, societatum et aliorum corporum, per quos, tanquam in republica quod communiter agi fierive oportet, agitur et fit" ('Syndics are chiefly called the actors of universities, colleges, societies, and other bodies, through whom, as in a republic, what must be pursued and done in common, is pursued and done'), and gives several examples from the 13th century of the use of the term.

[16] In Europe in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, nearly all companies, guilds, and the University of Paris had representative bodies the members of which were termed syndici.

Similarly in England, the Regent House of the University of Cambridge, which is the legislative body, delegates certain functions to special committees of its members, appointed from time to time by Grace (a proposal offered to the Regent House and confirmed by it); these committees are termed "syndicates" and are permanent or occasional, and the members are styled "the syndics" of the particular committee or of the institution which they administer; thus there are the syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum, of the Cambridge University Press, of local examinations, etc.

In some countries, notably France, Belgium and Brazil, a syndic de copropriété (Dutch syndicus, Portuguese síndico) is an important figure in millions of lives, elected by owners of condominiums to represent property owners in the management of the co-owned building or property.

Various arrangements therefore exist whereby churches and houses of the order are owned by the Holy See itself, or the local diocese or, sometimes, by a "syndic", an independent layman who is the actual owner of the land but who loans it to the friars.