Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

COMMUNITY

COMPANY

289

COMPACT. An agreement or contract. Usually applied to conventions between na tions or sovereign states. A compact is a mutual consent of parties concerned respecting some property or right that is the object of the stipulation, or some thing that is to be done or forborne. 4 Gill & J. 1. The terms "compact" and "contract" are synonymous. 8 Wheat. 1, 92. COMPANAGE. AH kinds of food, ex cept bread and drink. Spelman. COMPANIES CLAUSES CONSOLI DATION ACT. An English statute, (& Viet. c. 16,) passed in 1845, which consoli dated the clauses of previous laws still re maining in force on the subject of public companies. It is considered as incorporated into all subsequent acts authorizing the exe cution of undertakings of a public nature by companies, unless expressly excepted by suca later acts. Its purpose is declared by the pre amble to be to avoid repeating provisions as to the constitution and management of the companies, and to secure greater uniformity in such provisions. Wharton. COMPANION OP THE GARTER. One of the knights of the Order of the Garten. COMPANIONS. In French law. A general term, comprehending all persons who compose the crew of a ship or vessel. Foth Mar. Cont. no. 163. COMPANY. A society or association of persons, in considerable number, interested in a common object, and uniting themselves for the prosecution of some commercial or industrial undertaking, or other legitimate business. The proper signification of the word "company,* when applied to persons engaged in trade, denote* those united for the same purpose or in a joint con cern. It is so commonly used in this sense, or a* indicating a partnership, that few persons accus tomed to purchase goods at shops, where they are sold by retail, would misapprehend that such was its meaning. 83 Me. 82. Joint stock companies. Joint stock companies are those having a joint stock or capital, which ia divided into numerous transferable shares, or consists of transfera ble stock. Lindl. Partn. 6. The term is not identical with "partner ship, " although every unincorporated society is, in its legal relations, a partnership. In common use a distinction is made, the name "partnership" being reserved for business associations of a limited number of person*

In French law. A species of partner ship which a man and a woman contract when they are lawfully married to each other. COMMUNITY PROPERTY. Com munity property is property acquired by hus band and wife, or either, during marriage, when not acquired as the separate property of either. Civil Code Cal. § 687. This partnership or community consists of the profits of all the effects of which the hus band has the administration and enjoyment, either of right or in fact, of the produce of the reciprocal industry and labor of both husband and wife, and of the estates which they may acquire during the marriage, either by donations made jointly to them both, or by purchase, or in any other similar way, even although the purchase be only in the name of one of the two, and not of both, be cause in that case the period of time when the purchase is made is alone attended to, and not the person who made the purchase. Civil Code La. art. 2402. COMMUTATION. In criminal law. Change; substitution. The substitution of one punishment for another, after conviction of the party subject to it. The change of a punishment from a greater to a less; as from hanging to imprisonment. Commutation of a punishment is not a con ditional pardon, but the substitution of a lower for a higher grade of punishment, and is presumed to be for the culprit's benefit. 31 Ohio St. 20b'; 1 Nev. 321. In civil matters. The conversion of the right to receive a variable or periodical pay ment into the right to receive a fixed or gross payment. Commutation may be effected by private agreement, but it is usually done under a statute. COMMUTATION OP TITHES. Sig nifies the conversion of tithes into a fixed payment in money. COMMUTATIVE CONTRACT. In the civil law. One in which each of the con tracting parties gives and receives an equiva lent. Commutative contracts are those in which what is done, given, or promised by one party is considered as equivalent to, or a con sideration for, what is done, given, or prom ised by the other. Civil Code La. art. 1763. COMMUTATIVE JUSTICE. SeeJUS TICK.

Archive CD Books USA