Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

229

COMMISSIONERS OF SEWERS

COMMODATUM

in the expectation of tlieir act being confirmed by the body they profess to represent or act for. 15 Mees. & W. 529. The term is especially applied to the per son 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 deliberating 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 usual ly composed of a comparatively small num ber of members, but may include the whole house. COMMITTITUR. In practice. An or der or minute, setting forth that the person named in it is committed to the custody of the sheriff. COMMITTITUR PIECE. An instru ment in writing on paper or parchment, which charges a person, already in prison, in execu tion at the suit of the person who arrested him. 2 Chit. Archb. Pr. (12th Ed.) 1208. COMMIXTIO. In the civil law. The mixing together or confusion of things, dry or solid, belonging to different owners, as dis tinguished from confusio, which has relation to liquids. COMMODATE. In Scotch law. A gra tuitous loan for use. Ersk. Inst. 3, 1, 20. Closely formed from the Lat. commodatum, ( 9 . v.) COMMODATI ACTIO. Lat. In the civil law. An action of loan; an action for a thing lent. An action given for the recov ery of a thing loaned, (commodatum,) and not returned to the lender. Inst. 3, 15, 2; Id. 4, 1, 16. COMMODATO. In Spanish law. A contract by which one person lends gratui tously to another some object not consuma ble, to be restored to him in kind at a given period; the same contract as commodatum, {q. V.) COMMODATUM. In the civil law. He who lends to another a thing for a definite

ship, in many of the states, with power to take charge of the altering, opening, repair, and vacating of highways within such coun ty or township. COMMISSIONERS OF SEWERS. In English law. Commissioners appointed un der the great seal, and constituting a court of special jurisdiction; which is to overlook the repairs of the banks and walls of the sea coast and navigable rivers, or, with consent of a certain pioportion of the owners and oc cupiers, to make new ones, and to cleanse such nvpis, and the stiearns communicating therewith. St. 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 22, § 10; 3 Steph. Comm. 442. COMMISSIONS. The compensation or reward paid to a factor, broker, agent, bailee, executor, trustee, receiver, etc., when the same is calculated as a percentage on the amount of his transactions or the amount re ceived or expended. COMMISSORIA LEX. In Roman law. A clause which might be inserted in an agreement for a sale upon credit, to the effect that the vendor should be fieed from his ob ligation, and might rescind the sale, if the vendee did not pay the purchase price at the appointed time. Also a similar agreement between a debtor and his pledgee that, if the debtor did not pay at the day appointed, the pledge should become the absolute property of the creditor. This, however, was abol ished by a law of Constantine. Cod. 8, 35, 3. See Dig. 18,3; Mackeld. Rom. Law, §§ 447, 461; 2 Kent, Comm. 583. COMMIT. In practice. To send a per son to prison by virtue of a lawful authority, for any crime or contempt. 4 Bl. Comm. 295, 300; 1 Tidd, Pr. 479, 481. To deliver a defendant to the custody of the sheriff or marshal, on his surrender by his bail. 1 Tidd, Pr. 285, 287. COMMITMENT. In practice. The warrant or mittimus by which a court or magistrate directs an officer to take a person to prison. The act of sending a person to prison by means of such a warrant or order. 9 N. H. 204. COMMITTEE. In practice. An as sembly or board of persons to whom the con sideration or management of any matter is committed or referred by some court. An individual or body to whom others have delegated or committed a particular duty, or who have taken on themselves to perform it

Archive CD Books USA