S6S C O M 
all writ's and records, &c. The prothonotaries enter and 
enrol all declarations, pleadings, judgments, &c. and they 
make out all judicial writs, writs of execution, writs of 
privilege, procedendos, &c. The fecondaries are affif- 
tants to the prothonotaries in the execution of their offi¬ 
ces ; and they take minutes, and draw up all orders and 
rules of court. The filazers, who have the feveral coun¬ 
ties of England divided among them, make ont all mefne 
prccefs, as capias, alias, pluries, &c. between the original 
writ and the declaration ; and they make all writs of 
View, &c. The exigenters, appointed for feveral coun¬ 
ties, make out all exigents and proclamations in order to 
outlawry. The clerk of the warrants enters all warrants 
ot attorney, inrois deeds of bargain and fale, and eltreats 
all iffues. The clerk of the elloins keeps the roll of the 
efioins, wherein he enters them, and non-fuits, See. The 
clerk of the juries makes out all writs of habeas corpora 
jurat or', for juries to appear; and he enters the continu¬ 
ances till the verdid't given. The clerk of the treafury 
keeps the records of the court, and makes exemplifica¬ 
tions of records, copies of iflues, judgments, See. The 
clerk of the feals feals all writs and mefne procefs; alfo 
writs of outlawry and fuperfedeas, and all patents. The 
clerk of the outlawries makes out the writs of capias utla- 
gatum. The clerk of the errors is for the allowance of 
writs of error. The clerk of the inrolments of fines and 
recoveries, returns all writs of covenant, writs of entry 
and feifin, and inrois and exemplifies fines, &c. The 
clprk of the king's filver enters the fubftance of the writ 
of covenant; and the chirographer ingrofi'es all fines, and 
delivers the indentures to the parties. To thefe offices 
may be added, a proclamator, a keeper of the court, cryer, 
and tipftafts; befides the warden of the fleet. There are 
alfo attornies of this-court, whofe number is unlimited; 
and none may plead at the bar of the court, in term- 
time, or fign any fpecial pleadings, but ferjeants at law. 
COM'M-ON PRAYER,/, [preces public*, Lat.] The 
eftabliffied liturgy or prayers uled in our church. It is the 
particular duty of clergymen every Sunday, Sec. to 
ufe the public form of prayer, preferibed by the book of 
common prayer ; and if any incumbent be refident upon 
liis living, as he ought to be, and keep a curate, he is 
obliged, by the a£l of uniformity, once every month at 
leaft, to read the common prayers of the church, accord¬ 
ing as they are direfted by the book of common prayer, 
in his pariffi church, in his own perfon, or he lliall for¬ 
feit five pounds for every time he fails therein. 13 & 14. 
Car. II. c. 4. Alfo by that ftatute the book of common 
prayer is to be provided in every pariffi, under the penalty 
of three pounds a-month ; and the common prayer muft 
be read before every led!ure ; the whole appointed for the 
day, with all the circumffances and ceremonies, Sec. Mi- 
niiters, before all fermons, are to move the people to join 
in a ffiort prayer for the catholic church, and the whole 
congregation of Chriftian people, Sec. for the king and 
royal family; the minifters of God’s word, nobility, ma- 
gillrates, and whole commons of the realm, Sec. and con¬ 
clude with the Lord’s prayer. Refufing to ufe the com¬ 
mon prayer, or ufing any other open prayers, is puniffi- 
able by 1 Eliz. c. 2. 
COM'MONABLE, adj. What is held in common — 
Much good land might be gained from forelfs and chafes, 
and from other commonable places, fo as there be care 
taken that the poor commoners have no injury. Bacon. — 
In law, allowable to be turned on a common .’—Common- 
able beaks are bealls of the plough, or fuch as manure 
the ground. Common appurtenant is where the owner 
of the land has a right to put in other beads, befides fuch 
as are generally commonable , as hogs, goats, and the like. 
Blackjione. 
COM'MON AGE,/. The right of feeding on a com¬ 
mon ; the joint right of ufing any thing in common with 
others. 
COM'MONALTY,/ [comtnunaute, Fr.] The common 
people } the people of the lower rank.-wThere is in every 
COM 
ftate, as we know, two portions of fubjeCTs; the nobles, 
and the commonalty. Bacon — The bulk of mankind.—I 
myfelf too will ufe the fecret acknowledgment of the com- 
nionally, bearing record of the God of Gods. Hooker.— 
All below nobility.—The commonalty, like the nobility, 
are divided into feveral degrees. Blackjione. 
COM'MONER,/. One of the common people; a man 
of low rank, of mean condition. A man not noble : 
This commoner has worth and parts, 
Is prais'd for arms, or lov’d for arts : 
His head aches for a c.oronet ; 
And who is ble'fs’d that is not great ? Prior. 
A member of the houfe of commons,—There is hardly a 
greater difference between two tilings, than there is be¬ 
tween a reprefenting commoner in his public calling, and 
the fame perfon in common life. Swift. —One who has a 
joint right in .common ground.—Much land might be 
gained from commonable places, fo as there be care taken 
that the poor commoners have no injury. Bacon. —A flu- 
dent of the fecond rank at the univerfity of Oxford ; one 
that eats at the common table. A proititute : 
Behold this ring, 
Whofe high refpeCf, and rich validity, 
Did lack a parallel: yet, for all that. 
He gave it to a commoner o’ th’ camp. Shakefpeare. 
COMMONI'TION,/. \commonitio, Lat.] Advice; warn¬ 
ing; inftruCfion. 
COM'MONLY, adnj. Frequently; ufually; ordinarily; 
for the moft part.—A great difeafe may change the frame 
of a body, though, if it lives to recover ftrengtli, it com¬ 
monly returns to its natural conftitution. Temple. 
This hand of your’s requires 
Much caftigation, exercife devout; 
For here’s a ftrong and fweating devil here, 
That commonly rebels. Shakefpeare. 
Sociably, [from communiter , Lat.] a latinifm peculiar t« 
Spenfer. 
COM'MONNESS,/. Equal participation among many. 
—Nor can the commonnefs of the guilt obviate the cenfure, 
there being nothing more frequent than for men to ac- 
cufe their own faults in other perfons. Gonernment of the 
Tongue. —Frequent occurrence; frequency.—Blot out that 
maxim, res nolunt diu male adminijlrari: the commonnefs 
makes me not know who is the author; but fure he muft 
be fome modern. Swift. 
To COM'MONPLACE, <v. a. To reduce to general 
heads.—I do not apprehend any difficulty in collecting 
and commonplacing an univerfal hiltory from the hiftorians, 
Felton. 
COM'MONPLACE, adj. Ordinary.—Every fool, who 
flatterns away his whole time in nothings, utters fome 
trite cotnmonplace fentence, to prove the value and fleet- 
nefs of time. Chefterfeld. 
COM'MONPLACE-BOOK,/ A book in which things 
to be remembered are ranged under general heads.—I 
turned to my commonplace-book, and found his cafe under 
the word coquette. Tatler. 
The advantages of making a commonplace book are 
many; it not only makes a man read with accuracy and 
attention, but induces him infenfibly to think for himfeif, 
provided he confiders it not fo much as a regifter of fen- 
timents that flrike him in the courfe of reading, but as a 
regifter of his own thoughts upon various fub eCls. Many 
valuable thoughts occur even to men of no extraordinary 
genius. Thefe, without the affiftance of a commonplace- 
book, are generally loft both to bimfelf and others. 
There are various methods of arranging commonplace- 
books ; but that recommended by Mr. Locke, is as good 
as any that have hitherto been contrived. 
COM'MONS, f. The vulgar} the lower people j thoft 
who inherit no honours; 
Theft 
