CO M 



236 



COM 



UII, a machine for exhibiting 

 flip revolution of a comet. 



COMI'TIA. In ancient history, the as- 

 semblies of the RonV n people. 



COM'MA, from XO/J^M., a segment: a 

 mark in writing or printing, thus :,] de- 

 noting the shortest pause in reading; 

 also the difference between a major and 

 a minor semitone in music. 



COMMAN'DER. In the navy, the next in 

 rank above lieutenant, corresponding to 

 major in the army. 



COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, the officer in- 

 vested with the supreme command of all 

 the land forces of the British empire. 



COMMANDER? or PRECEPTORY. By the 

 usages of some orders of knights, a dis- 

 trict attached to a manor, under the con- 

 trol of a member of the order. 



COMVEN'DAM, a benefice or living com- 

 mended by the sovereign or head of the 

 church to the cure of a clerk, till a proper 

 pastor be provided. This may be tempo- 

 rary or perpetual. 



CoMMEN'suKABLEQcAXTiTiEs, in geome- 

 try, are such as have some common divi- 

 sor, which yields quotients in whole 

 numbers. 



COM'MERCE, from commutatio merciwn ; 

 the exchange of one sort of produce or 

 service for some other sort of produce or 

 service. 



COMMINA'TION, from eon and minatio, a 

 threatening ; an office in the liturgy, being 

 a recital of God's threatenings, appointed 

 to be read on Ash Wednesday or the first 

 day of Lent. 



COM'MISSARY, from commissaries, a com- 

 mission. In ecclesiastical affairs, a de- 

 puty of the bishop, in places of the dio- 

 cese far distant from the see. In military 

 affairs, (1). An officer who has the charge 

 of furnishing provisions, &c., for an army ; 

 (2). An officer appointed to inspect the 

 muster-rolls, usually called General of the 

 Musters. 



COMMISSION, from commissio ; from, con 

 and mitto to send. In late, the warrant 

 or letters patent by which one is author- 

 ised to exercise jurisdiction. In military 

 affairs, the warrant or authority by which 

 one holds a post in the army. In com- 

 merce, the order by which one traffics or 

 negotiates for another ; also the per cent- 

 age given to agents and factors for trans- 

 acting the business of others. 



COMMISSION - MERCHANT, a merchant 

 who transacts business as the agent of 

 other men, in buying and selling, and re- 

 ceives a rate per cent, as his commission. 



COMMIS'SKRE, Lat. commissiora, a joint 

 or seam. Applied in architecture to the 

 joint between two stones ; and in anatomy 

 to the corners of the lips where they meet 

 together ; also to certain parts of the 

 wi-tein, wheie its fibres cross and join one 

 hemisphere to the othe* . 



COMMIX'TUHE, Lat. commixtura, a com 

 pound mass. Applied in Scots laic to the 

 method of acquiring property by blending 

 different substances belonging to different 

 proprietors. 



COMMODO'RE, from Ital comandatore , a 

 commander. An officer who commands a 

 squadron destined on a particular enter- 

 prise: he bears the rank of brisadier- 

 general in the army. Commodore is also 

 used as a title of courtesy to the senior 

 captain, when three or more ships of war 

 are cruising in company. The leading 

 ship of a fleet of merchantmen bears also 

 the name of commodore. 



COM'MON, from Goth, gamana, fellow- 

 ship. In architecture, a common centering 

 is a centering without trusses, having a 

 tie-beam at the bottom. Common joists 

 are the beams in naked flooring, to which 

 the joists are fixed. The common rafters 

 of a roof are those to which the laths are 

 attached. In botany, a common bud is one 

 which contains both flowers and leaves ; 

 a common peduncle, one which bears se- 

 veral flowers ; a common perianth, one that 

 incloses several fructifications; a common 

 receptacle, one that connects several dis- 

 tinct fructifications. In law, a common is 

 an open ground equally used by many 

 persons. A right of common is a privi'.ege 

 claimed by one or more persons, to use in 

 some part or portion that which another 

 man's lands, woods, waters, &c., produce, 

 without having an absolute property in 

 the same,aseommon of pasture, &c. Com- 

 mon law is the body of rules for adminis- 

 tering justice within the kingdom, 

 grounded upon the general customs or 

 usages of the realm, and distinguished 

 from the statute laws, as having been the 

 law of the land before any acts of Parlia- 

 ment now extant were made. Common 

 pleas, pleas including all civil actions be- 

 tween subject and subject: for the deciding 

 of these there is instituted the Court of 

 Common Pleas, which is one of the Queen's 

 Courts, now held inAYestminster Hall, and 

 consisting of a Chief and other three Jus- 

 tices : appeal lies to the Court of Queen's 

 Bench. Common recovery, a process for 

 recovering an estate or barring entail. 



COM'MONS, in a general sense, the whole 

 body of the people as distinguished from 

 the nobility; in a particular sense, the 

 knights and burgesses who represent the 

 Commons in Parliament, and who are 

 designated the House of Commons. 



COMMON TIME. In wttisio, the time which 

 counts four crotchets or their equivalent 

 in a bar. 



COM'MONTY, in Scots Jnzc, land belonging 

 to two or more common proprietors. 



COM'MUNE, in France, one of the subor- 

 dinate divisions of the country , introduceo 

 ii. ..he revolution of 1792. 



liMMUTA'Tios. Ill astronomy, the angV 



