A New Law Dictionary and Glossary

The practice of giving colour in pleading. 3 Reeves' Hist, Eng. Law, 438.

Lat. In old English law. To lop or top, as trees; to cut off the boughs. Cowell. Colpatura; a lopping or topping of trees. Id.

Lat. Salvia colpiciis infra boscum predi^tum. The editor of Cowell (who is followed by Blount,) citing an old charter in which these words occur, supposes that by colpiciis is mean

Lat. [from columba, a dove.] A dove-house. Shep. Touch. 10. Towns. Pl. 183.

Comaunder. L. Fr. To commit or send. Comaundes a la prison; committed to prison. Britt. c. 21.

Lat. In old English law. Fellow barons; fellow citizens. The citizens or freemen of the Cinque ports being anciently called barons; the term combarones is used in this sense in a g

Eng. & Fr. [L. Lat. duellum, campus; L. Fr. battail, bataille^ In old English law. The formal trial of a doubtful cause or quarrel by the swords or batons of two champions. Termes

[Sax. cumbe, L. Lat. comba.] A valley. Domesday. Cowell. Co. Litt. 4 b, 5 b.

Lat. In old English law. The burning of houses; house burning. A term formerly used to denote the crime of arson. 1 Hal. P. (7. 346, [666.] 4 Bl. Com. 373. Bract, fol. 146 b. COMBU

Fr. Common. La comen ley; the common law. TheL Dig. lib. 11, c. 10, IF 8, 21. Le comen banke; the common bench. Id. f 17.

Fr. Although, notwithstanding. Litt, sect. 15.

Lat. [pi, comite Sy from comitar, to accompany, or follow; L. Fr. comte.] A companion, follower or attendant. An official and honorary title of great antiquity, and very various ap

[L. Lat. venit et defendit.] A phrase of great antiquity in pleading, and hitherto always used at the commencement of a defendant's pleas and demurrers to the declaration; the word

Lat. A county or shire. So called from the comes, or earl, who formerly had the government of it, as county is derived from the Fr. comte, count, denoting the same officer. 1 Bi. C

Lat. Counts or earls palatine; those who had the government of a county palatine. Bract, fol. 122 b. Other copies of Bracton have comites palmtynes. See County Palatine,

Lat. [from coire, quasi comire, to assemble.] In the Roman law. General assemblies of the people, convened by the constitutional authority of some magistrate, in order to enact or

Lat. Comitia of centuries. Assemblies of the people, instituted by Servius Tullius, in which they gave their votes in centuries. These comitia embraced all the orders of the state,

Lat. Assemblies of people instituted by Romulus, in which they voted in curia, or parishes, of which there were thirty. See Curiae, They were assemblies of the patrician order, or

Lat. Comitia of tribes. Assemblies of the Roman people, established B. C. 491, in which they voted according to tribes. From the circumstance that neither birth nor fortune gave an

Lat. [from com^s, q. v.] In old English law. The dignity and office of a combes, (count or earl;) the same with what was afterwards called comitatus, Spelman. Used in the Register

Lat. [from 0. Lat. caiare, to call or convoke.] Comitia convened for certain religious purposes, and at which testaments were usually made. Aul. Gell, XV. 27» The term is usually a

[Lat. comitas, q. v.] Courtesy. Comity of nations is the most appropriate phrase to express the true foundation and extent of the obligation of the laws of one nation within the te

Commandry, [Lat. jfro Bceptoria.] In English law. An establishment belonging to the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, consisting usually of a manor, or chief messuage, with lands an

Fr. Special partners; partners en com Tnandite. See Commandite,

or SOCIETE EN

Fr. In French law. A special or limited partnership, where the contract is between one or more persons who are general partners, and jointly and severally responsible, and one or m

[Fr. commandement; L. Lat. praeceptum.] In practice. An act of authority, as of a magistrate or judge, in committing a person to prison. Cowell. In criminal law. The act or offence

Lat. A boundary or border; a common boundary. See Marchdare.

Lat. [i. e. eccleaia commendata, vel cti Htodia ecclesia alicui commis9a; a church commended, or the care of a church committed to any one.] In English ecclesiastical law. A living

See Commenda. The limited partnership (or SodetS en commandite) of the French law has been introduced into the Code of Louisiana under the title of partnership in commendam. Civ, C

Lat. In old European and feudal law. To commend, commit or entrust oneself to the protection of another, (called among the Saxons mundeburde, or mundbyrd.) Spelman. Cowell, voc. Mu

Lat. [from commendare, to commend.] Commendation, praise or recommendation. Simplex commendatio non obligat. Mere commendation [of an article] does not bind [the seller; does not a

Lat. [from commendare, q. v.] In feudal law. One who entrusts himself to the protection of another. Spelman. A person who, by voluntary homage, put himself under the protection of

[Lat. comm^cium, from con, together, and mercari, to trade, from m^rx, merchandise.] In a strict sense, traffic in merchandise. In a general sense, an interchange or mutual change

Lat. In international law. War contracts. Contracts or conventions made between the subjects of two powers at war with each other; such as ransom bills, contracts made by prisoners

The law by which the commerce of nations is regidated. The word commercial here so far implies intercourse by sea, or by means of shipping, as to be eonstantly used sbao Bt aa the

Lai. Commerce, trade or trafl^; dealing between one per- 6on and another; a contract. £ue in commerdo; to be a subject of dealing, contract or acquisition. Inst. 8. 20, pr. 2. Comm

Comminaltie. L. Fr. The commonalty or people. Stat. Westm. 1, pr. C(mfirm. Chart, c. 6, 7. 2 Inst. 680.

Lat. [from comminari, to threaten.] In old practice. A clause sometimes added at the end of writs, admonishing the sheriff to be faithful in executing them. Bract. fol. 398.

p.. Lat. cammissarius, officialis foraneus."] In English ecclesiastical law. A title formerly applied to an officer who exercised spiritual jurisdiction in distant places of the bi

[Lat. commissio, from committere, to commit or entrust.] In practice. A warrant or authority in writing and under seal, sometimes in the form of letters patent, empowering those to

[L. Lat. commissionarius.] A person holding a commission for the discharge of certain duties, as the execution of a public office. Cowell. See Commission. A person holding a commis

In English law. Commissioners appointed under the great seal, and whose duties are, to take proof of the petitioning creditor's debt, the trading and act of bankruptcy, to examine

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 walb of the seacoa

In English law. One of the five several authorities, by virtue of which, until recently, the judges of the superior courts sat upon their circuits. 8 Bl. Com. 58. It was a commissi

A commission or authority formerly granted by the Lord Chancellor, in cases of bankruptcy, to such persons, (usually five,) as he should think proper, (who^ere thence styled commis

(otherwise called a Commission DE LUNATICO

In English law. One of the five [now four] commissions by virtue of which the judges of the superior courts sit upon their circuits. It is a consequence of the [ancient] commission

(sometimes called a writ of rebellion.) In equity practice. A process formerly used in the court of chancery in England, being one in the series of what was called process of conte

In English ecclesiastical law. A commission formerly sometimes granted in extraordinary cases, to revise the sentence of the court of delegates. 3 BL Com, 67. Now out of use, the p

In English law. A commission under the great seal, constituting the persons to whom it is directed a court of special jurisdiction under the name of commissioners of sewers, (q. V.

[L. Fr. comaunder.] In practice. To send a person to prison for any crime or contempt. 4 Bl. Com. 295, 300. 1 Tidd's Pr. 479, 481. To deliver a defendant to the custody of the sher

In practice. The sending or committing a person to prison or gaol, by warrant or order, either for a crime, contempt, or contumacy.* 4 BL Com, 296, 300. 3 Steph. Com. 364, 367. The

In practice. One or more individuals to whom the consideration or management of any matter is committed or referred by some court, or by consent of parties to whom it belongs.* Ter

Lat. (He is committed — ^from committere, to commit.) In practice. An order or minute, setting forth that the person named in it is committed to the custody of the sheriff. Most co

In English practice. An instrument in the form of a bail-piece, by which a defendant already m custody is charged in execution, at the suit of the same or another plaintiff. 1 Tidd

Lat. [from commisceri, to mix together.] In the civil law. Commixture; a mixing together of things solid or dry, (as confusio is of things liquid,) which belong to different owners

In Scotch law. A gratuitous loan for use. Ersk. Inst. b. 3, tit. 1, § 20. Closely formed from the Lat. commodatum, (q. v.)

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. 2

Lat. [from cowmodare, to lend.] In the civil law. A, or the lender, as distinguished from him to whom a thing is loaned, {cui commodata res est.) Inst. 4. 1. 16.

Lat. [from com/wodare, to lend.] A thing loaned, {res commodata.) Bract, fol. 99 b. The contract by, or upon which a thing is loaned; a loan for use without pay. A bailment of a th

Lat. Advantage, benefit or profit. Conmodnm ex iidHa !! § habere debet. No man ought to have advantage [to derive benefit] from his own wrong. Jenk. Cent 161. Cajm est ema Mdamj 4t

[Lat. communis.] Bracton distinguishes between common and public. Publica ita accipiuntur qua sunt omnium popuhrum, i. quce spectant ad usum hominum tantum. Communia vero did poter

[L. Fr. comon, comen, comun; L. Lat- communia, q. v.] A profit which a man hath in the land of another; as to feed his beasts, to catch fish, to dig turf, to cut wood, or the like.

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

Communally, Comminalty, [Lat. populus, plebs, communitas,!^ In English law. The commoners or people of England, as distinguished from the nobility. 1 Bl, Com, 403. Stat, Westm. The

One of the component parts of an incorporated company, which usually consists, m England, of the maater, wardens and commonalty; the two first being the chief officers or members,

The several modes or instruments of conveyance established or authorized by the law of England. Called commont because thereby every man's estate is assured to him. 2 Bl. Com. 294.

See Bail, Common.

See Blank bar.

See Barretor.

[L. Lat. communis bancus; L. Fr. le commun bank.] The former title of the English court of Common Pleas, and still sometimes used in the reports. Its original title seems to have b

A person who carries the goods of others for hire. One who undertakes for hire, to carry for any who choose to employ him. 1 Smith's Leading Cases (Am. ed.) 104. 4 N. Hamp. R. 304.

[L. Lat. commune concilium.'] The representative body of a corporation, in which is vested the power of making its laws and administering its affairs.* According to Lord Holt, a co

In pleading. Counts of invariable form, framed upon certain general principles of statement, and thereiore common in their application to a great variety of actions; as distinguish

[L. Lat. dies communis.] In old English practice. An ordinary day in court. Stat. 13 Ric. II. st. 1, c. 17. Such as Octabis Michaelis, (the octave of St. Michael,) Quindena Paschae

[L. Lat. finis communis.] In old English law. A certain sum of money which the residents in a leet paid to the lord of the leet, otherwise called head silver, cert money, (q. v.) o

[L. Lat. communis piscaria.] A right of fishing common to all, as a fishery in the sea, or in a navigable river. 1 Crabb's Real Prop. 114, § 108. This is sometimes confounded with

One who habitually gives, or makes a business of giving information of the violation of any penal statute, with a view to the prosecution of the offender, and to whom the whole or

Common meaning or understanding; the understanding of a thing according to the subject matter, without straining it to any extraordinary or foreign sense. Co. Litt. 78, 303. Termes

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

[L. Lat. commune nocumentum,^ A nuisance affecting the public, being an annoyance to the whole conmiunity in general; as distinguished from a private nuisance, which is confined in

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. Com. 35. It may be claime

[L. Lat. communia pastures; L. Fr. commune de pasture.] The right of feeding one's beasts on another's land, in common with the owner, or with other persons.* '2 Bl. Com. 32. 2 Ste

or FISH-

[L. Lat. communia turbaria,'] A liberty of digging turf upon another man's ground, [in common with the owner, or with other persons.] 2 Chitty*s Bl Com, 34, and note. Co. Litt. 122

Common pleas. The English court of common pleas is sometimes so called in the old books. Litt. sect. 94. Termes de la ley, voc. Common Law,

[L. Lat. communia placita; L. Fr. comunes plees.] Common causes or suits. A term anciently used to denote civil actions, or those depending between subject and subject, as distingu

Court of. \h. Lat. bancus, bancus communis, communia pladta.'] One of the superior courts of common law in England, consisting of a chief justice and four puisne judges; supposed b

In conveyancing. A species of common assurance, or mode of conveying lands by matter of record, formerly in frequent use in England, but recently abolished by statute 3 & 4 Will. I

The commoners or people of England, as distinguished from the nobility.* Jlolt, C. J., 2 Ld, Raym. 960. The commons consist of all such men of property in the kingdom, as have not

[L. Lat. communis rixatrix."] A quarrelsome woman, whose conduct is a public nuisance to her neighborhood. 4 BL Com, 168. In England, common scolds may be indicted, and were former

The seal of a corporation, by which alone, at common law, it could speak and act. Davies* B. 121. Dger, 81 a. The rule requiring a seal to bind a corporation has, however, been con

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 Criminal

The vouchee in common recoveries; the person vouched to warranty, or called on to defend the title of the tenant in those proceedings; called common because the same person, (viz.

[L. Lat. commorantia, from commorari, to stay, or sojourn.] The dwelling in any place as an inhabitant; which consists in usually lying there. 4 Bl. Com. 273. In American law it is

Staying or abiding; dwelling, or usually lying in a place. 4 Bl. Com. 273. See Commorancy.

Lat. [from comm^rire, to die together.] In the civil law. Persons dying together, in the same place, or from the same cause. Huhhack's Evid. of Succession, 187. Dig. 84. 5. 8, 9, 1

[L. Lat. commotum, from Brit, cymbod; cym, together, hod, being or dwelling; or from cwmmtod, a province.] Half of a cantred or hundred in Wales, containing properly fifty villages

In old English law. Tlie commoners, or tenants and inhabitants, who had the right of common, or commoning in open fields or woods. Cowell,