CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

-continued.

officers are employed in the House of Lords. By the 33 Geo. 3, c. 13, the clerk of Parliament is directed to indorse on every Act, immediately after the title thereof, the day, month, and year when the same shall have passed, and shall have received the royal assent; and such indorsement shall be taken to be part of the Act, and shall be the date of its commencement, where no other commencement shall have been provided by the Act.

CLERK OF THE PARLIAMENT ROLLS. An officer in the High Court of Parliament, who records all things done therein, and engrosses them fairly on parchment rolls, for their better preservation to posterity. There is one of these officers to each House of Parliament. Cowel.

See also title CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF
COMMONS.

An offi

CLERK OF THE PETTY BAG. cer of the Court of Chancery, whose duty it used to be to record the return of all inquisitions out of every shire; to make out patents of customers, gaugers, controllers, and aulnagers; all congés d'élire for bishops; the summons of the nobility, clergy, and burgesses to Parliament, &c.33 Hen. 8, c. 22; Cowel. But most, if not all, of these functions have been superseded.

CLERK OF THE PRIVY SEAL. There are four of these officers, who attend the lord privy seal, or in the absence of a lord privy seal, the principal secretary of state, Their duty is to write and make out all things that are sent by warrant from the signet to the privy seal, and which are to be passed to the great seal; and also to make out privy seals (as they are termed) upon any special occasion of his majesty's affairs, as for the loan of money and such like purposes. 27 Hen. 8, c. 11. Cowel.

CLERK OF THE SIGNET. An officer whose duty it is to attend on his majesty's principal secretary, who always has the custody of the privy signet, as well for the purpose of sealing his majesty's private letters, as also grants which pass his majesty's hand by bill signed: there are four of these oflicers. 27 Hen. 8, c. 11. Cowel.

CLOSE ROLLS and CLOSE WRITS. Certain letters of the king sealed with his great seal and directed to particular persons and for particular purposes, and not being proper for public inspection, are closed up and sealed on the outside, and are thence called writs close (literæ clausa), and are recorded in the close rolls in the same manner as others are in the patent rolls (litera patentes), or open letters.

CLUBS. These are companies, but not being for profit are not within the meaning of the Winding-up Acts (In re St. James's Club, 2 De G. M. & G. 383). They are essentially social, and the exclusion of a member, if not wanton, is without remedy. Hopkinson v. Exeter (Marquess), L, R. 5 Eq. 63.

COALS. By stat. 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 63, all coals must be sold by weight and not by measure, under a penalty of 408. By stat. 23 & 24 Vict. c. 191, provision is made for the inspection and regulation of coal mines in Great Britain; and under the Act 25 & 26 Vict. c. 79, amending same, it is not lawful for the owner of any new mine nor (after 1st January, 1865) of any existing mine, to work same by a single shaft, but two shafts admitting of distinct means of ingress and egress are required, but need not belong to one and the same mine, provided they are in communication.

some

CODICIL. A supplement to a will, or an addition made by the testator and annexed to the will, being written for the explanation or alteration or for the purpose of making some addition to, or subtraction from, the dispositions of the testator as contained in his will. In the Roman Law, a codicil was an informal will; but in English Law, the formalities of execution and of attestation are as strict in the case of codicils as in that of wills. See title WILLS.

COGNISANCE or CONUSANCE. This word has several significations. 1st. It signifies an acknowledgment. It is used in this sense when applied to fines, or those fictitious suits, by means of which estates in lands were transferred from one party to another. Thus a fine "sur cognisance de droit" signified a fine " upon acknowledgment of the right." 2nd. The word is applied to that plea or answer put in by the defendant in an action of replevin, when he acknowledges the taking of the distress in respect of which the action is brought, but insists that such taking was legal, as he acted with the command of another who had a right to distrain. Here, it will be observed, the defendant makes an acknowledgment of the fact charged against him, but offers a

COGNISANCE, or CONUSANCE-contd. legal excuse for his conduct. (See Trevilian v. Pyne, 1 Salk, 107; Chambers v. Donaldson, 11 East, 65.) 3rd. It is used in the sense of judicial notice or superintendence. Thus cognisance of pleas signifies the right or privilege granted by the Crown to any person or body corporate, not only to hold pleas within a particular jurisdiction, but also to take cognisance of them, i.e., to take judicial notice or superintendence of them, in other words, to have jurisdiction to hear them.

COGNOVIT ACTIONEM. An instrument signed by a defendant in an action, confessing the plaintiff's demand to be just. The defendant who signs this cognovit thereby empowers the plaintiff to sign judgment against him, in default of his paying the plaintiff the sum due to him within the time mentioned in the cognovit. Under the stat. 1 & 2 Vict. c. 110, s. 9, every such cognovit must be attested by an attorney, who must also under stat. 32 & 33 Vict. c. 62, s. 24, have explained to the debtor the nature of the instrument. And under the last-mentioned statute, s. 26, every cognovit must be filed with the clerk of docquets and judgments in the Court of Queen's Bench within twenty-one days next after the execution thereof, otherwise the same is void as being fraudulent against creditors.

See also title ATTORNEY, Power of.

COIF. Our serjeants-at-law are called serjeants of the coif, from the circumstance of the lawn coif which they wear on their head, under their caps, when they are elevated to that rank. It was originally used to cover the crown of the head, which was closely shaved, and a border of hair left round the lower part, which made it look like a crown, and was thence called corona clericalis, or tonsuram clericalem. Cowel.

COLLATERAL (collateralis), from the Lat. laterale, that which hangs by the side. Its legal signification does not differ from its common acceptation. Thus a collateral assurance signifies an assurance beside the principal one. So when a man mortgages his estates as security to a party lending him a sum of money, he also may enter into a bond, as an additional or collateral security. A collateral security is, therefore, something in addition to the direct security, and in its nature usually subordinate to it; and it is in the nature of a double security, so that when one fails, the other may be resorted to. See also succeeding titles.

COLLATERAL CONSANGUINITY, or COLLATERAL KINDRED. That which

COLLATERAL CONSANGUINITY, or COLLATERAL KINDRED-continued. exists between persons who are derived from the same stock or ancestors, however remote. Every person who is descended or propagated from the same stem (i.e., from the same male or female lineal ancestor) from which any other particular person is descended or propagated, and who is neither the immediate parent or progenitor, nor the progeny of such particular person, is properly and aptly denominated or defined to be a collateral relative. And when any person is the collateral relative of any other person, all the descendants from such persons, reciprocally and respectively, are collateral relations.

COLLATERAL ISSUE. When a prisoner has been tried and convicted, and he then pleads in bar of execution diversity of person, i.e., that he is not the same person who was attainted, and the like; this question of fact, whether or not he is the same person, is called a collateral issue, and a jury is then empanneled to try this issue, viz., the identity of his person. It is a general rule of evidence, that whatever would raise a collateral issue is to be excluded, unless, semble, the case is one in which the collateral issue should be settled by way of preliminary to the chief issue.

In alien

COLLATERAL WARRANTY. ating property by deed, there was usually a clause in it called the clause of warranty, whereby the grantor, for himself and his heirs, warranted and secured to the grantee the estate so granted. This warranty was either lineal or collateral. Lineal warranty was where the heir derived, or might by possibility have derived, his title to the land warranted, either from or through the ancestor who made the warranty; as where a father, or an elder son in the life of the father, released to the disseisor of either themselves or the grandfather, with warranty, this was lineal to the younger son. Collateral warranty was where the heir's title to the land neither was nor could have been derived from the warranting ancestor; as where a younger brother released to his father's disseisor, with warranty, this was collateral to the elder brother.

See also title WARRANTY.

COLLATION TO A BENEFICE. Advowsons are either presentative, collative, or donative. (1.) An advowson presentative is where the patron has a right of presentation to the bishop or ordinary, and moreover to demand of him to institute his clerk, if he finds him cauonically qualified, and this is the most usual kind of advowson. (2.) An

COLLATION TO A BENEFICE-contd. advowson collative is where the bishop and patron are one and the same person, in which case the bishop cannot present to himself, but in the one act of collation, or conferring of the benefice, he does all that is usually done in presentative advowsons by both presentation and institution. 3. Regarding the advowson donative, see title ADVOWSON.

COLLIGENDUM BONA DEFUNCTI (Letters ad). When a person dies intestate and leaves no representatives or creditors to administer, or leaving such representatives and creditors, they refuse to take out administration, &c., the judge of the Court of Probate may commit administration to such discreet person as he approves of, or grant him these letters ad colligendum bona defuncti (to collect the goods of the deceased). Such a grant is purely official, and does not constitute him executor or administrator, his only business being to take care of the goods, and to do other acts for the benefit of those who are entitled to the property of the deceased.

See title ADMINISTRATION, LETTERS

OF.

COLLISION: See title SHIPPING.

COLLUSION. A deceitful agreement or compact between two or more persons for the one party to bring an action against the other for some evil purpose, as to defrand a third party of his right. Bro. tit. Collusion; Les Termes de la Ley. As a general rule, collusion between the parties to an action is fatal to the success of it, e.g., in proceedings for a divorce; but in particular instances it is not so, as in the old proceedings for suffering a common

recovery.

COLONIES. As a general rule, a colony acquired by discovery and occupation is to be governed by the laws of England; and if acquired by conquest, then by its own laws, so far as they are not contrary to morality, and until the conqueror sees fit to change them. But when the laws of England depend upon circumstances that are peculiar to England, and which do not apply to the colonies also, then these particular laws do not hold good in the colonies, e.g., the Law of Mortmain in the Island of Grenada. Attorney-General v. Stewart, 2 Mer. 143; and see Mayor of Lyons v. East India Co., 1 Moo. P. C. C. 175, as to India.

COLOUR. A technical term used in pleading to signify that apparent right of the opposite party, the admission of which is required in all pleadings, by way of confession and avoidance. Of such pleadings it is, as the name imports, of their

COLOUR-continued.

very essence to confess the truth of the allegation which they propose to answer or avoid, which formerly was done by an introductory sentence- True it is that, &c.," preceding the defence relied upon in answer. But though this formal admission is now generally abandoned, it is still essential that the confession clearly appear on the face of the pleading. In many places it is absolute and unqualified; as, in an action on a covenant, a plea of release admits absolutely the execution of the covenant and the breach complained of; but in some the confession is of a qualified kind, or sub modo only. Thus, to an action of trespass for taking the plaintiff's corn, a plea that the defendant was rector, and that the corn was set out for tithe, and that he took it as such rector, would be a good plea by way of confession and avoidance. For though there is no direct confession that the defendant took the plaintiff's corn as alleged in the declaration, but, on the contrary, an assertion of a title to the corn in himself, yet the plea implies that the plaintiff was the original owner, and entitled against all the world, except the defendant. There is, therefore, a confession, so far as to admit some sort of apparent right or colour of claim in the plaintiff, and is therefore within the rule laid down by pleaders on this subject; that pleadings in confession and avoidance should give colour. The colour thus explained, inherent in the structure of all pleadings in confession and avoidance, is termed implied colour, to distinguish it from express colour, which, instead of an implied admission, is a direct and positive assertion of an apparent title in the opposite party, introduced into pleadings of this nature to satisfy the rule as to confession or admission. This latter kind of colour is employed, or used to be employed, in cases where the pleader was desirous of pleading by way of confession and avoidance to a traverse, and the facts of his case admitted no sort of title in the opposite party, or, in other words, gave no implied colour. He then, for the express purpose of giving colour, inserted in his plea a fictitious allegation of some colourable but insufficient title in the plaintiff, which he at the same time avoided by the preferable title of the defendant. And in his replication the plaintiff was not allowed to traverse the fictitious matter thus suggested. The practice of giving express colour came to be almost entirely confined to trespass and trover, and in those actions extended to no other pleading than the plea. The form adopted in trespass to land was to allege a defective charter of demise, and in trespass for taking goods,

COLOUR-continued.

that the defendant delivered the goods to a stranger, who delivered them to the plaintiff, from whom the defendant took them. By these allegations a colourable or apparent right was given to the plaintiff in both cases, and the pleas were rendered good, which otherwise would have been defective for want of colour (Stephen on Pl. 229, et seq.; 1 Ch. Pl. 504; 3 Reeves, E. L. 438.) But under the C. L. P. Act, 1852, s. 64, express colour is no longer necessary, and the better opinion is that under s. 49 of that Act it is abolished.

COMBINATION OF WORKMEN. The stat. 22 Vict. c. 34, enacts, in explanation of the stat. 6 Geo. 4, c. 129, that no workman, by reason merely of his combining with other workmen for the purpose of fixing the rate of wages, or for the purpose of peaceably and without threat or intimidation dissuading others from working with a view to fixing the rate of wages, shall be deemed or taken to be guilty of the offence of molestation or obstruction; but the Act is not to authorize a workman to break his contract. See also Trades Unions Act, 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. 31), and Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. 32).

COMMANDITE: See title SOCIÉTÉ.

COMMENDAM (ecclesia commendata). The holding a living or benefice in commendam is (where a vacancy occurs) holding such living commended by the Crown until a proper pastor is provided for it. This may be temporary for one, two, or three years; or perpetual, being a kind of dispensation to avoid the vacancy of the living, and is called a commenda retinere. These commendams are now seldom granted except to bishops.

See also next title. COMMENDATORS. Secular persons on whom benefices or church livings are bestowed. They are so called because the benefices were commended and intrusted to their oversight; they are not proprietors, but only a kind of trustees. Where the bishop is commendatory, the grant is usually made to him while he continues bishop of the particular diocese, and not longer, the intention of the grant being to augment the revenues of the bishopric where it is poor.

See also title PLURALITIES. COMMISSARY (commissarius). In the Ecclesiastical Law is a title applied to those who exercise spiritual jurisdiction in those parts of the diocese which are too far distant from the chief city for the chancellor to call the people of the bishop's principal court without occasioning them great in

COMMISSARY-continued.

convenience. These officers were ordained to supply the bishop's office in the distant places of his diocese, or in such parishes as were peculiar to the bishop, and were exempted from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon (Lyndewood's Provin.; Cowel). But in more modern times, the commissary acts generally in relief of the bishop or archbishop, and as his officer.

COMMISSION. In our law is much the same as delegatio with the civilians, and is commonly understood to signify the warrant, authority, or letters patent, which empower men to perform certain acts, or to exercise jurisdiction either ordinary or extraordinary. In its popular sense it frequently signifies the persons who act by virtue of such an authority. There are various

sorts of commissions, which will be found under the following titles.

COMMISSIONS OF ASSIZE. Commissions empowering the judges to sit on the circuit, for the purpose of holding the assizes.

COMMISSION OF BANKRUPT. A commission or authority formerly granted by the Lord Chancellor to such discreet persons as he should think proper, to examine the bankrupt in all matters relating to his trade and effects, and to perform various other important duties connected with bankruptcy matters; these persons were thence called commissioners of bankruptcy, and had in most respects the powers and privileges of judges in their own Courts. But regularly constituted Courts and judges in bankruptcy cases have now superseded such commissions and commissioners. See title BANKRUPTCY.

COMMISSION OF CHARITABLE USES. A commission issuing out of the Court of Chancery to the bishop and others, when lands which are given to charitable uses have been misemployed, or there is any fraud or dispute concerning them, to inquire of and redress the same.

When

COMMISSION OF DELEGATES. any sentence was given in any ecclesiastical cause by the archbishop, this commission under the great seal was directed to certain persons, usually lords, bishops, and judges of the law, to sit and hear an appeal of the same to the King in the Court of Chancery. But latterly the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has supplied the place of this commission; and the Court of Appeal will take the place of the Judicial Committee under the Judicature Act, 1873.

COMMISSION TO EXAMINE WITNESSES. When a cause of action arises in a foreign country, and the witnesses reside

COMMISSION

ΤΟ EXAMINE WIT

NESSES-continued. there, or in a cause of action arising in England, where the witnesses are abroad or are shortly to leave the kingdom; or if witnesses residing at home are aged and infirm, and therefore cannot come to Court; in any of these cases a Court of Equity will grant a commission to certain persons to attend these witnessss wherever they may reside, and to examine them and take down their depositions in writing upon the spot, and these depositions are then received in Court as valid evidence in the cause.

See also titles EVIDENCE; WITNESSES. COMMISSION OF LUNACY. A commission issuing out of Chancery authorizing certain persons to inquire whether a person represented to be a lunatic is so or not, in order that, if he is a lunatic, the king may have the care of his estate. The masters in lunacy at the present day are permanent officers appointed to discharge the duties of these commissions, under the Lunacy Regulation Act, 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 86).

COMMISSION OF OYER AND TERMINER: See title OYER AND TERMINER.

COMMISSION OF THE PEACE. A commission from the king under the great seal, appointing persons therein named jointly and separately justices of the peace.

See title JUSTICE.

COMMISSION TO TAKE ANSWERS IN EQUITY. When a defendant in a suit lived more than twenty miles from London, there might have been a commission granted to take his answer in the country, where the commissioners administered to him the usual oath, and then the answer being sealed up, either one of the commissioners carried it up to Court, or it was sent by a messenger, who swore that he received it from one of the commissioners, and that the same had not been opened or altered since he received it. But now such an answer may be sworn in the country before any solicitor of the Court who is appointed a commissioner to administer oaths in Chancery.

COMMITTEE. An assembly of persons to whom matters are referred. A committee of the House of Commons is a committee to whom a bill after the second reading is committed, that is, referred; and is either selected by the House in matters of small importance, or else upon a bill of consequence the House resolves itself into a committee of the whole house. A committee of the whole House is formed of every member; and to form it, the Speaker quits the chair (another member being appointed chairman), and the Speaker may in that case sit and debate as a private member. In

COMMITTEE continued.

these committees the bill is debated clause by clause, amendments are made, the blanks are filled up, and sometimes the bill is almost entirely remodelled. After it has gone through this committee, it is again brought before the House for re-consideration, after which it is read a third time, and then passed or not passed, as the case may be. A committee also signifies the person or friend to whom the Lord Chancellor commits the care of an idiot or lunatic.

COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY. A committee of supply is a committee of the House of Commons, in which the grants of money necessary for the public service are voted, after the estimates of the sums required by the various public departments have been laid before the House.

COMMITTEE OF WAYS AND MEANS. This committee is one which follows next in order to a committee of supply in the financial business of the House of Commons; and its object is to consider the ways and means of raising the supply which has previously been granted in the other committee. The difference between them is that one controls, the other provides.

COMMITTEE OF WHOLE HOUSE: See title CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES OF THE WHOLE HOUSE.

COMMITTEE ON PRIVATE BILLS. The difference between a committee on a private bill and a committee on a public bill is, that while the latter consists of the House itself, with a chairman of committees presiding instead of the Speaker, the former consists of a selected number of members who sit in a committee room and take evidence for and against the bill; the witnesses being examined by counsel as in a Court of Justice. In the Commons' committees on private bills, the public are admitted; but from the Lords' committees they are excluded.

COMMITTEE, SELECT. A select committee consists of a certain number of members of either House of Parliament, appointed to inquire into and report upon matters specially referred to them. It is called a select committee, as distinguished from a committee of the whole house, a committee of supply, a committee of ways and means, &c.; and it usually conducts its proceedings in a separate apartment provided for the purpose, and not in the body of the House itself. Among the most important of this class of committees, railway committees may be instanced as examples.

COMMON, RIGHT OF. Is a right which one person who is not the owner has of taking some part of the produce of land