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Commonwealth

The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922

The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary

A free state or republic having a republican form of government. The English nation during the time of Cromwell was called a commonwealth. It is the legal title of the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Used sometimes as denoting the public; the common welfare of the people.