Non-Commissioned Officer

A subordinate oliicer who holds his rank not by commission from the executive authority of a state or nation, but by appointment by a superior officer. NON COMPOS MENTIS (Lat not of sound mind, memory, or understanding). A generic term, including all the species of madness, whether it arise from idiocy, sickness, lunacy, or drunkenness. Co. Litt. 247; 4 Co. 124; 4 Comyns, Dig. 613; 5 id. 186; Shelf. Lun. 1. See Insanity. NON CONCESSIT (Lat. he did not grant). In English Law. The name of a plea by which the defendant denies that the crown granted to the plaintiff by letters-patent the rights which he claims as a concession from the king: as, for example, when a plaintiff sues another for the infringement of his patent right, the defendant may deny that the crown has granted him such a right. It does not deny the grant of a patent, but of the patent as described in the plaintiff’s declaration; 3 Burr. 1544; G Co. 15 b. Also a plea resorted to by a stranger to a deed, because estoppels do not hold with respect to strangers. It brought into issue the title of the grantor as well as the operation of the deed; Whart. Diet.