KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

COMES AND DEFENDS

219

COMMANDERT.

COMES AND DEFENDS. This phrase, anciently used in the language of pleading, and still surviving in some jurisdictions, oc curs at the commencement of a defendant's plea or demurrer; and of its two verbs the former signifies that he appears in court, the latter that he defends the action. COMINUS. Lat Immediately; hand-to hand; in personal contact. COMITAS. Lat. Comity, courtesy, civil ity. Comitas inter communitates; or comi tas inter gentesj comity between communi ties or nations; comity of nations. 2 Kent, Comm. 457. COMITATU COMMISSO. A writ or commission, whereby a sheriff is authorized to enter upon the charges of a county. Reg. Orig. 295. COMITATU ET CASTRO COMMISSO. A writ by which the charge of a county, to gether with the keeping of a castle, is com mitted to the sheriff. COMITATUS. In old English law. A county or shire; the body of a county. The territorial jurisdiction of a comes, i. e., count or earl. The county court, a court of great antiquity and of great dignity in early times. Also, the retinue or train of a prince or high governmental official. COMITES. Counts or earls. Attendants or followers. Persons composing the retinue of a high functionary. Persons who are attached to the suite of a public minister. COMITES PAJLEYS. Counts or earls palatine; those who had the government of a county palatine. COMITIA. In Roman law. An assembly, either (1) of the Roman curiae, in which case it was called the "comitia curiata vel calata;" or (2) of the Roman centuries, in which case it was called the "comitia centu riataj" or (3) of the Roman tribes, in which case it was called the "comitia triouta." Only patricians were members of the first comitia, and only plebians of the last; but the comitia centuriata comprised the entire populace, patricians and plebians both, and was the great legislative assembly passing the leges, properly so called, as the senate passed the senatus consulta, and the comitia triouta passed the pleoiscita. Under the Lex Hortensia, 287 B. C., the plebiscitum acquir ed the force of a lex. Brown. COMITISSA. In old English law. A countess; an earl's wife. COMITIVA. In old English law. The dignity and office of a comes, (count or earl;) the same with what was afterwards called "comitatus." Also a companion or fellow-traveler; a troop or company of robbers. Jacob.

COMITY. Courtesy; complaisance; re spect; a willingness to grant a privilege, not as a matter of right, but out of deference and good will. —Comity of nations. The most appropriate phrase to express the true foundation and extent of the obligation of the laws of one nation with in the territories of another. It is derived al together from the voluntary consent of the lat ter; and it is inadmisible when it is contrary to its known policy, or prejudicial to its inter ests. In the silence of any positive rule af firming or denying or restraining the operation of foreign laws, courts of justice presume the tacit adoption of them by their own government, unless repugnant to its policy, or prejudicial to its interests. It is not the comity of the courts, but the comity of the nation, which is administered and ascertained in the same way, and guided by the same reasoning, by which all other principles of the municipal law are as certained and guided. Story, Confl. Laws, i 38. The comity of nations (comitas gentium) is that body of rules which states observe to wards one another from courtesy or mutual con venience, although they do not form part of international law. Holtz. Enc. *. v. Hilton v. Guyot, 159 U. S. 113, 16 Sup. Ct. 139, 40 L. Ed. 95; Fisher v. Fielding, 67 Conn. 91, 34 Atl. 714, 32 L. R. A. 236, 52 Am. St. Rep. 270; People v. Martin, 175 N. Y. 315, 67 N. E. 589, 96 Am. St Rep. 628— Judicial comity. The principle in accordance with which the courts of one state or jurisdiction will give effect to the laws and judicial decisions of another, not as a matter of obligation, but out of deference and respect Franzen v. Zimmer, 90 Hun, 103, 35 N. Y. Supp. 612; Stowe v. Bank (C.-C.) 92 Fed. 96; Mast v. Mfg. Co.. 177 U. S. 485, 20 Sup. Ct. 708, 44 L. Ed. 856; Conklin v. Shipbuilding Co. (O. C.) 123 Fed. 916. COMMAND. An order, imperative direc tion, or behest. State v. Mann, 2 N. C. 4; Barney v. Hayes, 11 Mont 571, 29 Pac. 282, 28 Am. St. Rep. 495. COMMANDEMENT. In French law. A writ served by the huissier pursuant to a judgment or to an executory notarial deed. Its object is to give notice to the debtor that if he does not pay the sum to which he has been condemned by the judgment, or which he engaged to pay by the notarial deed, his property will be seized and sold. Arg. Fr. Merc. Law, 550. COMMANDER IN CHIEF. By article 2, § 2, of the constitution it is declared that the president shall be commander in chief of the army and navy of the United States. The term implies supreme control of military operations during the progress of a war, not only on the side of strategy and tactics, but also in reference to the political and inter national aspects of the war. See Fleming v. Page, 9 How. 603, 13 L. Ed. 276; Prize Cases, 2 Black, 635, 17 L. Ed. 459; Swaim v. U. S., 28 Ct CI. 173. In old English law. A manor or chief messuage with lands and tenements thereto appertaining, which be longed to the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, in England; he who had the government of such a manor or house was styled the "com- COMMANDERY.