Coumittee

One or more persons to whom a matter is referred for examination, deliberation, superintendence, action, or recommendation. An individual or a body to which others have committed or delegated a particular duty, or who have taken upon themselves to perform it in the expectation of their act being confirmed by the body they profess to represent or to act for.' More particularly, a person appointed by a court to take charge of the person or the estate, or of both, of a lunatic, habitual drunkard, or spendthrift. The committee of a lunatic is a bailiff whose power is limited to the mere care of the estate under the direction of the court.* The civil law assigned a tutor to protect the person, and a curator to manage the estate.. To prevent sinister practices the next of kin was seldom appointed committee of ttre person, but generally manager of the estate, accountable to the court, to the representative of the lunatic, and to the lunatic himself upon recovery.' But now, for committee of the person, the next of kin is favored; and for committee of the estate, the heir at law."