Comes

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 application; originating under the Roman empire, and retained in the institutions of most of the early nations of Europe, but chiefly remarkable for its equal use in denoting the comte or count of the Franks, the grave or graf of the Germans, the countee of the Anglo-Normans, the et Udorman, alderman, or shireman of the Saxons, and finally, the earl of the English and Scotch.

1 £L Com, 116, 398. Spelman. Term£8 de la ley, voc. Countee.

Ersk. Inst. b.

1, tit. 4, § 1.

See Count, Countee, Alderman, Earl, Grave, Reeve, Schire-man. The origin of this title has been traced by Spelman to the household or court of the Roman emperors, who gave the name of comites to their personal attendants, or those who belonged to their following or retinue, (comites vocabant quotquot e comitatu principis erant.) It came afterwards to be used (with the Grsecobarb. icofifg) as a title not only of honor, but of office, and with no restriction as to grade in either; but its prevailing signification was that of chief, superintendent, or governor, (Gr. afxwv,) Thus, among other officers noticed at length by Spelman, the comites provinciarum were the rulers or governors of provinces, who combined the authority of a civil magistrate and judge, with the powers of a military commander. From these, according to the same writer, were immediately derived the comites of the lower ages. Among the Franks, Germans, and other early nations, the term comes was applied to one who was selected by the king from his own attendants, (e comitatu sua,) and sent to govern some city or territory, and from whom such territory, as well as the office itself, was called comitatus, A prominent feature of this officer was his judicial character. Spelman calls him expressly a judge, (regts e comitaiu suo miserunt judicem, — muwus comitis judieiariumyti ,) and refers to the use of the word in this sense, among the ancient Germansas early as the time of Tacitus. See Comte. As to the introduction of this te?m into England, it may be observed that the title comes is found associated amonjthe Anglo- Saxons, with some kind of territorial authority, at a period anterior to the diyision of the kingdom into counties, but its use does not appear to have been fully established until laterwards, when it was applied by the Latin interpreters to the reeve, alder* many or chief magistrate of the shire, aadje- SO noting the union in these oileers of tenritorial jurisdiction with judicial authority. The Danes introduced the corresponding title of eorle, and the Normans that of comte, or countee; but the former being adopted by the Saxons, seems to have soon superseded the latter. Comites are mentioned in Magna Charta, (e. 14,) and by Bracton, as the highest order of persons in the kingdom, whose title the last named author derives a comitatu sive a sodetate, and whom be otherwise calls consules, a consulendo,) as being the king's advisers and associates in the government of the people. Bract, fol.

6 b.

Id. fol.

34, 351 b.

The deputy of the comes, (earl, or count,) was called vice com£8, which is still the Latin appellation of sheriff, (the earl's successor in the ffoven Dment of the shire,) as comes is of earl at the present day.

1 BL Com. 116.

See Sheriff.

See Sheriff.

C0MITA8.

Lat. Comity, curtesy, civility. Comitas inter ccmrnunitc Ues; comity between communities or nations; comity of nations. 2 Ken Cs C(ym. 457. That indulgence or liberality by which the laws of one nation are allowed to operate within the territories of another. See Comty. The rule is, that comttoa is to be observed quakwus sine pray udieio indtdgentium Jieri potest, (as jas can be done without pejudioe to those who allow it.) Kent, C, 4 Johns. Ch. E. 460, 477.