Definition of Committee

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; Farrar v. Eastman, 5 Me. 345. An individual or body to whom others have delegated or committed a particular duty, or who have taken on themselves to perform it in the expectation of their act being confirmed by the body they profess to represent or act for. 15 Mees. & W. 529. The term is especially applied to the person or persons who are invested, by order of the proper court, with the guardianship of the person and estate of one who has been adjudged a lunatic. In parliamentary law. A portion of a legislative body, comprising one or more members, who are charged with the duty of examining some matter specially referred to them by the house, or of delibsrating upon it, and reporting to the house the result of their investigations or recommending a course of action. A committee may be appointed for one special occasion, or it may be appointed to deal with all matters which may be referred to it during a whole session or during the life of the body. In the latter case, it is called a "standing committee." It is usually composed of a comparatively small number of members, but may include the whole house.
—Joint committee. A joint committee of a legislative body comprising two chambers is a committee consisting of representatives of each of the two houses, meeting and acting together as one committee
—Secret committee. A secret committee of the house of commons is a committee specially appointed to investigate a certain matter, and to which secrecy being deemed necessary in furtherance of its objects, its proceedings are conducted with closed doors, to the exclusion of all persons not members of the committee. All other committees are open to members of the house, although they may not be serving upon them. Brown.