Legal Term Dictionary

In old French law. Forfeiture; the forfeiture of a fief; the penalty attached to the ingratitude of a vassal Guyot, Inst Feod. c. 12.

In old French law. Forfeiture; the forfeiture of a fief; the penalty attached to the ingratitude of a vassal Guyot, Inst Feod. c. 12. Less...

In French law. A person who receives from a meeting of shareholders a special authority, viz., that of checking and examining the accounts of a manager or of valuing the apports en nature, (q. v.) The name is also applied to a judge who receives from a court a special More...

In French law. A person who receives from a meeting of shareholders a special authority, viz., that of checking and examining the accounts of a manager or of valuing the apports en nature, (q. v.) The name is also applied to a judge who receives from a court a special mission, e. p., to institute an inquiry, or to examine certain books, or to supervise the operations of a bankruptcy. Arg. Fr. Merc Law, 551. Less...

In French law. Auctioneers, who possess the exclusive right of selling personal property at public sale in the towns in which they are established; and they possess the same right concurrently with notaries, grefllera. and huissiers, in the rest of the arrondissement Arg. Fr. Merc. Law, 551.

In French law. Auctioneers, who possess the exclusive right of selling personal property at public sale in the towns in which they are established; and they possess the same right concurrently with notaries, grefllera. and huissiers, in the rest of the arrondissement Arg. Fr. Merc. Law, 551. Less...

The whole body of officers who make up the commissaries' department of an army.

The whole body of officers who make up the commissaries' department of an army. Less...

In ecclesiastical law. One who is sent or delegated to execute some office or duty as the representative of his superior; an officer of the bishop, who exercises spiritual Jurisdiction in distant parts of the diocese. In military law. An officer whose principal duties are to supply an army with More...

In ecclesiastical law. One who is sent or delegated to execute some office or duty as the representative of his superior; an officer of the bishop, who exercises spiritual Jurisdiction in distant parts of the diocese. In military law. An officer whose principal duties are to supply an army with provisions and stores. Less...

A Scotch ecclesiastical court of general Jurisdiction, held before four commissioners, members of the Faculty of Advocates, appointed by the crown.

A Scotch ecclesiastical court of general Jurisdiction, held before four commissioners, members of the Faculty of Advocates, appointed by the crown. Less...

A warrant or authority or letters patent, issuing from the government or one of its departments, or a court empowering a person or persons named to do certain acts, or to exercise jurisdiction, or to perform the duties and; exercise the authority of an office, (as in the case of More...

A warrant or authority or letters patent, issuing from the government or one of its departments, or a court empowering a person or persons named to do certain acts, or to exercise jurisdiction, or to perform the duties and; exercise the authority of an office, (as in the case of an officer in the army or navy.) Bledsoe v. Colgan, 188 Cat 84, 70 Pac. 924; U. S. T. Planter, 27 Fed. Cas. 544; Dew v. Judges, 8 Hen. & M. (Va.) 1, 8 Am. Dec. 639; Scofleld v. Louns-bury, 8 Conn. 109. Also, in private affairs, it signifies the authority or instructions under which one person transacts business or negotiates for another. In a derivative sense, a body of persons to whom a commission is directed. A board or committee officially appointed and empowered to perform certain acts or exercise certain jurisdiction of a public nature or relation; as a "commission of assise." In tbe civil law. A species of bailment being an undertaking, without reward, to do something in respect to an article balled; equivalent to "mandate." In commercial law. The recompense or reward of an agent factor, broker, or bailee, when the same is calculated as a percentage on the amount of bis transactions or on the profit to the principal. But in this sense the word occurs more frequently in the plural. Jackson v. St an field, 137 Ind. 592, 37 N. E. 14, 23 I* R. A. 588; Ralston v. Kohl, 30 Ohio St. 98; Whitaker ?. Guano Co., 123 N. C. 368, 31 S. B. 629. In criminal law. Doing or perpetration; the performance of an act. Groves v. State, 116 Ga. 516, 42 S. E. 755, 59 L. R. A. 598. In practice. An authority or writ issuing from a court, in relation to a cause before it, directing and authorizing a person or persons named to do some act or exercise some special function; usually to take the depositions of witnesses. A commission is a process issued under the seal of the court and the signature of the clerk, directed to some person designated as commissioner, authorizing him to examine the witness upon oath on interrogatories annexed thereto, to take and certify the deposition of the witness, and to return it according to the directions given with the commission. Pen. Code Cal. I 135L —Commission day. In English practice. The opening day of. the assise* .—Commission do lunatieo inquirendo. The same as a commission of lunacy, (see infra.) In re Mis-selwits, 177 Pa. 359, 35 Atl. 722.—Commission jlel credere, in commercial law, is where an agent of a seller undertakes to guaranty to his principal the payment of the debt due by the buyer. The phrase "del credere" is borrowed from the Italian language, in which its signification is equivalent to our word ''guaranty" or "warranty.M Story, Ag. 28.—Commission merchant. A term which is synonymous with "factor." It means one who receives goods, chattels, or merchandise for sale, exchange, or other disposition, and who is to receive a compensation for his services, to be paid by the owner, or derived from the sale, etc, of the goods. State v. Thompson, 120 Mo. 12, 25 S. W. 346; Perkins v. State, 50 Ala. 154; White v. Com.. 78 Va. 484.—Commission of anticipation. In English law. An authority under the great seal to collect a tax or subsidy before the day.—Commission of appraisement and sale. Where property has been arrested in an admiralty action in rem and ordered by the court to be sold, the order is carried out by a commission of appraisement and sale; in some cases (as where the property is to be released on bail and the value is disputed) a commission of appraisement only is required. Sweet—Commission of array. In English law. A commission issued to send Into every county officers to muster or set in military order the inhabitants. The introduction of commissions of lieutenancy, which contained, in substance, the same powers as these commissions, superseded them. 2 Steph. Comm. (7th Ed.) 582.—Commission of assise. Those issued to judges of the high court or court of appeal, authorizing them to sit at the assises for the trial of civil actions.—Commission of bankrupt. A commission or authority formerly granted by the lord chancellor to such persons as he should think proper, to examine the bankrupt in all matters relating to his trade and effects, and to perform various other important duties connected with bankruptcy matters. But now, under St. 1 A 2 Wm. IV. c. 56, § 12, a fiat issues instead of such commission.—Commission of charitable uses. This commission issues out of chancery to the bishop and others, where lands given to charitable uses are misemployed, or there is any fraud or dispute concerning them, to inquire of and redress the same, etc.—Commission of delegates. When any sentence was given in any ecclesiastical cause by the archbishop, this commission, under the great seal, was directed to certain persons, usually lords, bishops, and judges of (lie law, to sit and hear an appeal of the same to the king, in the court of chancery. But latterly the judicial committee of the privy council has supplied the place of this commission. Brown.—Commission of lunacy. A writ issued out of chancery, or such court as may have jurisdiction of the case, directed to a proper officer, to inquire whether a person named therein is a lunatic or not 1 Bouv. Inst n. 382, et $eq.; In re Moore, 68 Cal. 281, 9 Pac. 164.—Commission of partition. In the former English equity practice, this was a commission or authority issued to certain persons, to effect a division of lands held by tenants in common desiring a partition; when the commissioners reported, the parties were ordered to execute mutual conveyances to confirm the division.—Commission of rebellion. In English law. An attaching process, formerly issuable out of chancery, to enforce obedience to a process or decree; abolished by order of 26th August 1841.—Commission of review. In Ikigiish ecclesiastical law. A commission formerly sometimes granted In extraordinary cases, to revise the sentence of the court of delegates. 3 Bl. Comm. 67. Now out of use, the S rivy council being substituted for the court of elegates, as the great court of appeal in all ecclesiastical causes. 3 Steph. Comm. 432.— Commission of tbe peace. In English law. A commission from the crown, appointing certain persons therein named, jointly and severally, to keep the peace, etc Justices of the peace are always appointed by special commission under the great seal, the form of which was settled by all the judges, A. D. 1590, and continues with little alteration to this day. 1 Bl. Comm. 351; 3 Steph. Comm. 39, 40.—Commission of treaty with foreign princes. Leagues and arrangements made between states and kingdoms, by their ambassadors and ministers, for the mutual advantage of the kingdoms in alliance. Wharton.—Commission of unlivery. In an action in the English admiralty division, where it is necessary to have the cargo in a ship unladen in order to have it appraised, a commission of unlivery is issued and: executed by the marshal. Williams & B. Adm. Jur. 233. —Commission to examine witnesses. In practice. A commission issued out of the court in which an action is pending, to direct the taking of the depositions of witnesses who are beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the court. —Commission to take answer in chancery. In English law. A commission issued when defendant lives abroad to swear him to such answer. 15 & 16 Vict. c. 86, I 21. Obsolete. See Jud. Acts, 1873, 1875.—-Commission to take depositions. A written authority issued by a court of justice, giving power to take the testimony of witnesses who cannot be personally produced in court Tracy v. Suydam, 80 Barb. (N. Y.) 110. Less...

In the United States army and navy and marine corps, those who hold their rank and office under commissions issued by the president as distinguished from non-commissioned officers (in the army, including sergeants, corporals, etc.) and warrant officers (in the navy, including boatswains, gunners, etc.) and from privates or enlisted More...

In the United States army and navy and marine corps, those who hold their rank and office under commissions issued by the president as distinguished from non-commissioned officers (in the army, including sergeants, corporals, etc.) and warrant officers (in the navy, including boatswains, gunners, etc.) and from privates or enlisted men. See Babbitt v. U. S., 16 Ct CI. 202. Less...

A person to whom a commission is directed by the government or a court State v. Banking Co., 14 N. J. Law, 437; In re Canter, 40 Misc. Rep. 126, 81 N. Y. Supp. 338. In the governmental system of the United States, this term denotes an officer who is More...

A person to whom a commission is directed by the government or a court State v. Banking Co., 14 N. J. Law, 437; In re Canter, 40 Misc. Rep. 126, 81 N. Y. Supp. 338. In the governmental system of the United States, this term denotes an officer who is charged with the administration of the laws relating to some particular subject-matter, or the management of some bureau or agency of the government. Such are the commissioners of education, of patents, of pensions, of fisheries, of the general land-office, of Indian affairs, etc. In the state governmental systems, also, and in England, the term is quite extensively nsed as a designation of various officers having a similar authority and similar duties. —Commissioner of patents. An officer of the United States government being at the head of the bureau of the patent-office.—Commissioners of bail. Officers appointed to take recognizances of bail in civil cases.—Commissioners of bankrupts. The name given, under the former English practice in bankruptcy, to the persons appointed under the great seal to execute a commission of bankruptcy, (g. t?.)— Commissioners of circuit courts. Officers appointed by and attached to the circuit courts of the United States, performing: functions partly ministerial and partly judicial. To a certain extent they represent the judge in his ab-sense. In the examination of persons arrested for violations of the laws of the United States they have the powers of committing magistrates. They also take bail, recognizances, affidavits, etc., and hear preliminary proceedings for foreign extradition. In re Com'rs of Circuit Court (C. C.) 65 Fed. 317.—Commissioners of deeds. Officers empowered by the government of one state to reside in another state, and there take acknowledgments of deeds and other papers which are to be used as evidence or put on record in the former state.—Commissioners of nigh ways. Officers appointed in each county or township, in many of the states, with power to take charge of the altering, opening, repair, and vacating of highways within such county or township.—Commissioners of sewers. In English law. Commissioners appointed under the great seal, and constituting a court of special jurisdiction; which is to overlook the repairs of the banks and walls of the sea-coast and navigable rivers, or, with consent of a certain proportion of the owners and occupiers, to make new ones, and to cleanse such rivers, and the streams communicating therewith. St. 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 22, § 10; 3 Steph. Comm. 442.—County commissioners. See COUNTY. Less...

The compensation or reward paid to a factor, broker, agent, bailee, executor, trustee, receiver, etc., when the same is calculated as a percentage on the amount of his transactions or the amount received or expended. See COMMISSION.

The compensation or reward paid to a factor, broker, agent, bailee, executor, trustee, receiver, etc., when the same is calculated as a percentage on the amount of his transactions or the amount received or expended. See COMMISSION. Less...