(A) contracts, civ. law. When one undertakes, without reward, to do something for another in respect to a thing bailed. This term is frequently used synonymously with mandate. Ruth. Inst. 105; Halifax, Analysis of the Civil Law, 70. If the service the party undertakes to perform for another is the custody of his goods, this particular sort of, commission is called a charge. 2. In a commission, the obligation on his part who undertakes it, is to transact the business without wages, or any other reward, and to use the same care and diligence in it, as if it were his own. 3. By commission is also understood an act performed, opposed to omission, which is the want of performance of such an act; is, when a nuisance is created by an act of commission, it may be abated without notice; but when it arises from omission, notice to remove it must be given before it is abated. 1 Chit. Pr. 711. Vide abatement of Nuisances; Branches; Trees. (B) office. Persons authorized to act in a certain matter; as, such a matter was submitted, to the commission; there were several meetings before the commission. (C) crim. law. The act of perpetrating an offence. There are crimes of commission and crimes of omission. (D) government. Letters-patent granted by the government, under the public seal, to a person appointed to an office, giving him authority to perform the duties of his office. The commission is not the appointment, but only evidence of it; and as soon as it is signed and sealed, vests the office in the appointee. (E) practice. An instrument issued by a court of, justice, or other competent tribunal, to authorize a person to take depositions, or do any other act by authority of such court, or tribunal, is called a commission.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
A warrant or authority or letters patent, issuing from the government or one of its departments, or a court empowering a person or persons named to do certain acts, or to exercise jurisdiction, or to perform the duties and exercise the authority of an office, (as in the case of an officer in the army or navy.) Bledsoe v. Colgan, 138 Cal. 34, 70 Pac. 924; U. S. v. Planter, 27 Fed. Cas, 544; Dew v. Judges, 3 Hen. & M. (Va.) 1, 3 Am. Dec. 639; Scofleld v. Louns bury, 8 Conn. 109. Also, in private affairs, it signifies the authority or instructions under which one person transacts business or negotiates for another. In a derivative sense, a body of persons to whom a commission is directed. A board or committee officially appointed and empowered to perform certain acts or exercise certain jurisdiction of a public nature or relation; as a “commission of assise.” In the civil law. A species of bailment being an undertaking, without reward, to do something in respect to an article bailed; equivalent to “mandate.” In commercial law. The recompense or reward of an agent factor, broker, or bailee, when the same is calculated as a percentage on the amount of his transactions or on the profit to the principal. But in this sense the word occurs more frequently in the plural. Jackson v. Stanfield, 137 Ind. 592, 37 N. E. 14, 23 L R. A. 588; Ralston v. Kohl, 30 Ohio St. 98; Whitaker v. Guano Co., 123 N. C. 368, 31 S. E. 629. In criminal law. Doing or perpetration; the performance of an act. Groves v. State, 116 Ga. 516, 42 S. E. 755, 59 L. R. A. 598. In practice. An authority or writ issuing from a court in relation to a cause before it directing and authorizing a person or persons named to do some act or exercise some special function; usually to take the depositions of witnesses. fiven with the commission. Pen. Code Cal.