Black's Law Dictionary

An officer of the United States government, being at the head of the bureau of the patent-office.

Officers appointed to take recognizances of bail in civil cases.

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. v.)

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 j

Officers empowered by the government of one state to reside in another slate, and there take acknowledgments of deeds and other papers which are to be used as evidence or put on re

Public officers appointed in ,the several counties and municipalities, in many states, to take charge of the opening, altering, repair, and vacating of highways within their respec

In English law. The court of commissioners of sewers is a temporary tribunal erected by virtue of a commission under the great seal. Its jurisdiction is to overlook the repairs of

Persons appointed to levy the land-tax in Scotland, and to cause a valuation roll to be annually made up, and to perform other duties in their respective counties. Bell.

See Commission.

In English law. An authority under the great seal to collect a tax or subsidy before the day.

Where property has been arrested in an admiralty action tn rent and ordered by the court to be sold, the order is carried out by a commission of appraisement and sale; in some case

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 con

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.

A commission or authority formerly granted by the lord chancellor to such persons as he should think proper, to examine the bsnkrupt in all matters relating to his trade and effect

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

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 judge

See Commission of Areat.

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 Bo

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 uniivery is issued and exec

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; w

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.

In English ecclesiastical law. A commission formerly sometimes granted, in extraordinary cases, to revise the sentence of the court of delegates, when it was apprehended they had b

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 niways appointed by

Leagues and arrangements made between states and kingdoms, by their ambassadors and ministers, for the mutual advantage of the kingdoms in alliance. Wharton.

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

In English law. A commission issued when defendant lives abroad to swear him to such answer. 15 & 16 Viet. c. 86, § 21. Obsolete. See Jud. Acts, 1873, 1875.

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, 30 Barb. (N. Y.) 110.

Caused by or consisting in acts of commission, as distinguished from neglect, sufferance or toleration; as in the phrase "commissive waste," which is contrasted with "permissive wa

Active or positive waste; waste done by acts of spoliation or destruction. rather than by mere neglect; the same as voluntary waste. See infra.

In Roman law. A clause which might be inserted in an agreement for a sale upon credit, to the effect that the vendor should be freed from his obligation, and might rescind the sale

In practice. To send a person to prison by virtue of a lawful authority, for any crime or contempt or to an asylum, workhouse, reformatory or the like, by authority of a court or m

In practice. The warrant or mittimus by which a ceurt or magistrate directs an officer to take a person to prison. The act of sending a person to prison by means of such a warrant

In practice. An assembly or board of persons to whom the consideration or management of any matter is committed or referred by some court. Lloyd v. Hart, 2 Pa. 473, 45 Am. Dec. 612

In English law. All bills which relate to the public income or expenditure must originate with the house of commons, and all bllls authorizing expenditure of the public money are b

See Magistrate.

In practice. An order or minute, setting forth that the person named in it is committed to the custody of the sheriff. —Committitur piece. An instrument in writing on paper or parc

An instrument in writing on paper or parchment, which ebarges a person, already in prison, in execution at the suit of the person who arrested him. 2 Chit. Archb. Pr. (12th Ed.) 12

In the civll law. The mixing togethor or confusion of things, dry or solid, belonging to different owners, as distinguished from confusio, which has relation, to liquids.

In Scotch law. A gratuitous loan for use. Ersk. Inst. 3, 1, 20. Closely formed from the Lat. commodatum, (ff. u.)

Lat. In the civil law. An action of loan; an action for a thing lent. An action given for the recovery of a thing loaned, (commodatum,) and not returned to the lender. Inst. 3, 15,

In Spanish law. A contract by which one person lends gratuitously to another some object not consumable, to be restored to him in kind at a given period; the same contract as commo

In the civll law. He who lends to another a thing for a definite time, to be enjoyed and used-under certain conditions, without any pay or reward, is called "commodans;" the person

Goods, wares, and merchandise of any kind; movables; articles of trade or commerce. Best v. Bauder, 29 How. Prae. (N. Y.) 492; Portland Bank v. Apthorp, 12 Mass. 256; Queen Ins. Co

Jenk. Cent. 161. No person ought to have advantage from his own wrong.

As an adjective, thla word denotes usual, ordinary, accustomed; shared amongst several; owned by several Jointly. State v. O'Conner, 49 Me. 596; Koen v. State, 35 Neb. 676, 53 N. W

Entitled to common. Commonable beasts are either beasts of the plow, as horses and oxen or such as manure the land, as kine and sheep. Beasts not commonable are swine, goats, and t

In old deeds. The right of common. See Common.

In English law. The great body of citizens; the mass of the people, excluding the nobility. In American law. The body of people composing a municipal corporation, excluding the cor

The commoners, or tenants and inhabitants, who have the right of common or commoning in open field. Cowell.

Carriers are either common or private. Private carriers are persons who undertake for the transportation in a particular instance only, not making it their vocation, nor holding th

In English law, there are two kinds of probate, namely, probate in common form, and probate in solemn form. Probate in common form is granted in the registry, without any formal pr

The several modes or instruments of conveyance established or authorized by the law of England. Calied "common" because thereby every man's estate is assured to him. 2 Bl. Comm. 29

In pleading. (Otherwise called "blank bar.") A plea to compel the plaintiff to assign the particular place where the trespass has been committed. Steph. PI. 256.

One who frequently excites and stirs up groundless suits and quarrels, either at law or otherwise. State v. Chit-ty, 1 Bailey, (S. O.) 379; Com. v. Davie, 11 Pick. (Mass.) 482.

The English court of common pleas was formerly so called. Its original title appears to have been simply "The Bench," but it was designated "Common Bench" to distinguish it from th

Common carriers of passengers are such as undertake for hire to carry all persons indifferently who may apply for passage. Gillingham v. Railroad Co... 35 W. Va. 588 14 S E 243, 14

In old English law. A place where all alike were entitled to hunt wild animals.

In American law. The lower or more numerous branch of the legislative assembly of a city. In English law. The councillors of the city of London. The parliament, also, was anciently

In old English practice. An ordinary day in court. Cowell; Termes de la Ley.

In Scotch law. A debtor whose effects have been arrested by several creditors. In regard to these creditors, he is their common debtor, and by this term is distinguished in the pro

(Lat. communis error, g. v.) An error for which there are many precedents. "Common error goeth for a law." Finch, Law, b. 1, c. 3, no. 54.

In English law. Persons having a right of common. So called because they have a right to pasture on the waste, in common with the lord. 2 EL Bl. 889.

In old English law. A certain snm of money which the residents in a leet paid to the lord of the leet, otherwise called "head silver," "cert money," (q. v.,) or "certum, letes." Te

A fishing ground where all persons have a right to take fish. Bennett v. Costae, 8 Taunt. 183; Albright v. Park Com'n. 68 N. J. Law, 523, 53 Atl. 612. Not to be confounded with "co

A will is said to be proved in common form when the executor proves it on his own oath: as distinguished from "proof by witnesses," which is necessary when the paper propounded as

See Probate.

A court in the city of London, at which all the citizens, or such as are free of the city, have a right to attend.

By this term is meant a road to be used by the community at large for any purpose of transit or traffic. Ham. N. P. 239; Railway Co. v. State, 23 Fla. 546, 3 South. 158, 11 Am. St.

A common prosecutor. A person who habitually ferrets out crimes and offenses and lays information thereof before the ministers of justice, in order to set a prosecution on foot, no

A house for the entertainment of travelers and passengers, in which lodging and necessaries are provided for them and for their horses and attendants. Cromwell v. Stephens, 2 Daly

The natural sense given to words.

In practice. The ordinary kind of jury by which issues of fact are generally tried, as distinguished from a special jury, (q. v.)

I. As distinguished from the Roman law, the modern civil law, the canon law, and other systems, the common law is that body of law and juristic theory which was originated, develop

In England, those administering the common law. Equitable L. Assur. Soc. v. Paterson, 41 Ga. 364, 5 Am. Rep. 535.

One punishable by the force of the common law, as distinguished from crimes created by statute. In re Greene (C. C.) 52 Fed. 104 .

Jurisdiction of a court to try and decide such cases as were cognizable by the courts of law under the English common law; the jurisdiction of those courts which exercise their jud

One known to or granted by the common law, as distinguished from statutory, equitable, and maritime liens; also one arising by implication of law, as distinguished from one created

One not solemnized in the ordinary way, but created by an agreement to marry, followed by cohabitation; a consummated agreement to marry, between a man and a woman, per verba de pr

One possessing the characteristics or fulfilling the requirements of n. Mortgage at common law; not known in Louisiana, where the civil law prevnils; but such a mortgage made in an

Three acts of parliament, passed in the years 1852, 1854. and I860, respectively, for the amendment of the procedure in the common-law courts. The common-law procedure act of 1852

A woman who was party to a "common-law marriage," as above defined; ot one who, having lived with a man in. a relation of concubinage during his life, asserts a claim, after his de

A lawyer learned in the common law. Common opinion is good authority in law. Co. Litt. 186a; Bank of Utica v. Mer-sereau, 3 Barb. Ch. (N. Y.) 528, 577, 49 Am. Dec. 189.

Familiar law or doctrine. Dyer, 27b, 33.

One which affects the public in general, and not merely some particular person; a public nuisance. 1 Hawk. P. C. 197.

A liberty of taking necessary wood for the use or furniture of a house or farm from off another's estate, in common with the owner or with others. 2 Bl. Comm. 35.

Common pleas. The English court of common pleas is sometimes so called in the old books.

The name of a court of record having general original jurisdiction in civil suits. Common causes or suits. A term anciently used to denote civil actions, or those depending between

The liturgy, or public form of prayer prescribed by the Church of England to be used in ali churches and chapels, and which the clergy are enjoined to use under a certain penalty.

A term sometimes applied to lands owned by a municipal corporation and held in trust for the common use of the inhabitants. Comp. Laws N. Miex. 1897, § 2184. Also property owned jo

In conveyancing. A species of common assurance or mode of conveying lands by matter of record, formerly in frequent use in England. It was in the nature and form of an action at la

The prevailing belief in a given community as to the existence of a certnin fact or aggregation of facts. Brown v. Foster, 41 S, C. 118, 19 S. El 299.

See Common.

1. The class of subjects in Great Britain exclusive of the royal famlly and the nobility. They are represented in parliament by the house of commons. 2. Part of the demesne land of

Schools maintained at the public expense and administered by a bureau of the state, district, or municipal government, for the gratuitous education of the children of nil citizens

One who, by the practice of frequent scolding, disturbs the neighborhood. Bish. Crim. Law, § 147. A quarrelsome, brawling, vituperative person. U. S. v. Royall, 27 Fed. Cas. 907; C

A seal adopted and used by a corporation for authenticating its corporate acts and executing legal instrumento. —-Corporate seal. The official or common seal of an incorporated com

A common seller of any commodity (particularly under the liquor laws of many states) is one who sells it frequently, usually, customarily, or habitually ; in some states, one who i

Sound practical judgment; that degree of intelligence and reason, as exercised upon the relations of persons and things and the ordinary affairs of life, which is possessed by the

A judicial officer attached to the corporation of the city of London, who assists the recorder in disposing of the criminal business at the Old Bailey sessions, or central criminni

In the English parliament. The lower house, so called because the commons of the realm, that is, the knights, citizens, and burgesses returned to parliament, representing the whole