Page:Black's Law Dictionary (Second Edition).djvu/231

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COMMISSION
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COMMISSIONER

river: with the commission. Pen. Code Cal. § 1351.

—Commission day. In English practice. The opening day of the aissises.—Commission de Innatico inquirendo.}} The same as a commssion of lunacy, (see infra.) In re Misselwitz. 177 Pa. 359. 35 Atl. .—Commission del credere, in commercial law, is wherean agent of a seller undertakes to guaranty tohis principal the payment of the debt due by the buyer. The phrase "del credere" is borrowed from the Italian language, in which its signification is equivalent to our word "guaranty" or "warranty." Story, Ag. 28.—Commission merchant.}} A term which is synonymous with "factor." It means one who receives goods. chattels, or merchandise for sale. exchange, or other disposition, and who is to receive a compensation for his services. to be paid by the owner, or derived from the sale. etc., of the goods. State v. Thompson. 120 Mo. 12, 25 S. W. 346: Perkins v. State, 50 Ala. 154: White v. Com., 78 Va 484.—Comission of anticipation. In English law. An authority under the great seal to collect a tax or subsidy before the day. —Commission of apparisment and sale. Where property has been arrested in an admiralty action in rem and ordered by the court to be sold, the order is carried out by a commission of appraisement and sale; in some cases (as where the property is to be released on bail and the value is disputed) a commission of appraisement only is required. Sweet.—Con:raission of urrs.y. ' law. A commission issued to send into every county officers to muster or set in military order the inhabitants. The intro- duction of commissions of iieutcnnncy, which cat.-lined. in substance, the same powers as these commissions, superseded them. 2 Stcpb. Comm (7th Ed.) 582. —Commission of assise. Those issued to judges of the high court or court of appeal, authorising them to sit at the assises for the trial of civil actions. —Commission of bankrupt. A commission or authority formerly granted by the lord chancellor to such persons as he should think proper, to examine the bankrupt in all matters relating to his trade and effects, and to perform various other important duties connected with bankruptcy matters. But now, under St. 1 Br 2 Wm. IV. c. 56, § 12, a fiat issues instead of such commission. —Commission of charitable uses.' This commission issues out of chancery to the bishop and others, where lands given to charitable rises are misemployed, or there is any fraud or dispute concerning them, to inquire of and redress the same, etc. —Commission of delegates. When any sentence was given in any ecclesiastical cause by the archbishop, this commission, under the great seal, was directed to certain persons, usually lords, bishops, and judges of the law. to sit and hear an appeal of the same to the king. in the court of chancery. But latterly the judicial committee of the privy council has supplied the place of this commission. Brown. —Comission of lunacy. A writ issued out of chancery, or such court as may have jurisdiction of the case, directed to a proper officer, to inquire whether a person named therein is a lunatic or not. 1 Bouv. Inst. n.382 et seq., In re Moore, 68 Cal. 281, 9 Pac. 1 —Comission of partition. In the former English equity practice, this was a commission or authority issued to certain persons, to elect a division of lands held by tenants in common desiring a partition; when the commissioner reported, the parties were ordered to execute mutal conveyances to confirm the division. —Commission of rebellion. In English law. An attaching process, formerly issuable out of chancery, to enforce obedience to a process or decree; abolished by order of 26th August. l841. —Comission of review. In English ecciesiastical law. A commission formerly sometimes granted in extraordinary crises, to revise the sentence of the court of delegates. 3 Bl. Comm. 67. Now out of use, the privy council being substituted for the court of delegates, as the great court of appeal in all ecclesiastical causes. 3 Staph. Comm. 432. —Commission of the peace. In English law. A commission from the crown , appointing certain persons therein named, jointly and severally, to keep the peace, etc. Justices of the peace are always appointed by special commission under the great seal, the form of which was settled by all the judges, A. D. 1590, and continues with little alteration to this day. 1 Bl. Comm. 351: 3 Steph. Comm. 39, 40.—Commission of treaty with foreign princes. Leagues and arrangements made between states and kingdoms, by their ambassadors and ministers, for the mutual advantage of the kingdoms in alliance. Wharton. —Commission of unlivery. In an action in the English admiralty division, where it is necessary to have the cargo in a ship unladen in order to have it appraised, a commission of unlivery is issued and executed by the marshal. Williams & B. Adm. Jur. 23 . —Commission to examine witnesses. In practice. A commission issued our of the court in which an action is pending,. to direct the taking of the depositions of witnesses who are beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the court. —Commission to take answer in chancery. In English law. A commission issued when defendant lives abroad to swear him to such answer. 15 & 16 Vict c. 80. § 21. Obsolete. See Jud. Acts. 1873. 1875. —Commission to take depositions. A written authority issued by a court of justice. giving power to take the testimony of witnesses who cannot be personally produced in court Tracy v. Suydam, 30 Barb. (N. Y.) 110.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. In the United States army and navy and marine corps, those who hold their rank and office under commissions issued by the president, as distinguished from non-commissioned officers (in the army, including sergeants, corporals, etc.) and warrant officers (in the navy, including boatswains, gunners. etc.) and from privates or enlisted men. See Rabbitt v. U. S., 16 Ct. C1. 202.

COMMISSIONER. A person to whom a commission is directed by the government or a court. State v. Banking Co., 1-1 N. J. Law. 437; In re Canter, 40 Misc. Rep. 126. 81 N. Y. Supp. 338.

In the governmental system of the United States, this term denotes an officer who is charged with the administration of the laws relating to some particular subject-matter, or the management of some bureau or agency of the government. Such are the commissioners of education, of patents, of pensions, at fisheries, of the general laud-office, of Indian affairs, etc.

In the state governmental systems, also, and in England, the term is quite extensively used as a designation of various officers having a similar authority and similar duties.

—Commissioner of patents. An officer of the United States government. being at the hand of the bureau of the patent office. —Commissioners of bail. Officers appointed to take recognizances of bail in civil cases. —Commissioners of bankrupts. The name given, under the former English practice in bankruptcy to the persons appointed under the great seal to