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body of persons, the body exercising these delegated functions is generally known as a commission and the members as commissioners; thus the office of See also:

lord high See also:

ADMIRAL

admiral of See also:

GREAT

Great See also:

BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

Britain is administered by a permanent See also:

BOARD (O. Eng. bord)

board, the lords of the See also:

ADMIRALTY, HIGH COURT OF

admiralty. Such a delegation may be also temporary, as where the authority under the great See also:

seal to give the royal assent to legislation is issued to lords commissioners. Similarly bodies of persons or single individuals may be specially charged with carrying out particular duties; these may be permanent, such as the Charity Commission or the Ecclesiastical and See also:

Church Estates Commission, or may be temporary, such as various See also:

INTERNATIONAL, THE

international bodies of inquiry, like the commission which met in See also:

Paris in 1905 to inquire into the See also:

North See also:

Sea incident (see DOGGER See also:

BANK

BANK), or such as the various commissions of inquiry, royal, statutory or departmental, of which an See also:

account is given below. A commission may be granted by one person to another to act as his See also:

AGENT (from Lat. agere, to act)

agent, and particularly in business; thus the term is applied to that method of business in which goods are entrusted to an agent for See also:

sale, the remuneration being a percentage on the sales.

This percentage is known as the " commission," and hence the word is extended to all remuneration which is based on a percentage on the value of the See also:

WORK

work done. The right of an agent to remuneration in the See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form of a " commission " is always founded upon an See also:

EXPRESS (through the French from the past participle of the Lat. exprimere, to press out, by transference used of representing objects in painting or sculpture, or of thoughts, &c. in words)

express or implied See also:

contract between himself and his See also:

PRINCIPAL

principal. Such a contract may be implied from See also:

CUSTOM (from O. Fr. costume, costume or coustume; Low Lat. costuma, a shortened form of consuetudo)

custom or usage, from the conduct of the principal or from the circumstances of the particular See also:

case. Such commissions are only payable on transactions directly resulting from agency and may be payable though the principal acquires no benefit. In order to claim remuneration an agent must be legally qualified to act in the capacity in which he claims remuneration. He cannot recover in respect of unlawful or wagering transactions, or in cases of misconduct or See also:

BREACH (Mid. Eng. breche, derived from the common Teutonic root brec, which appears in " break," Ger. brechen, &c.)

breach of duty. See also:

SECRET (Lat. secretum, hidden, concealed)

Secret Commissions.—The giving of a commission, in the sense of a bribe or unlawful See also:

PAYMENT (Fr. paiement, from payer, to pay; Lat. pacare, to appease, pax, peace)

payment to an agent or employe in order to See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence him in relation to his principal's or employer's affairs, has grown to considerable proportions in See also:

MODERN

modern times; it has been rightly regarded as a See also:

GROSS

gross breach of trust upon the See also:

PART

part of employes and agents, inasmuch as it leads them to look to their own interests rather than to those of their employers. In order to suppress this bribing of employes the See also:

ENGLISH

English legislature in rco6 passed the Prevention of Corruption Act, which enacts that if an agent corruptly accepts or obtains for himself or for any other person any See also:

GIFT (a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. die Gift, gift, das Gift, poison, formed from the Teut. stem gab-, to give, cf. Dutch geven, Ger. geben; in O. Eng. the word appears with initial y, the guttural of later English is due to Scandinavian influence)

gift or See also:

CONSIDERATION (from Lat. considerare, to look at closely, examine, generally taken to be from con-, and the base seen in sidus, sideris, a star, the word being supposed to be originally an astrological or astronomical term)

consideration as an inducement or See also:

REWARD

reward for doing or forbearing to do any act or business, or for showing or forbearing to show favour or disfavour to any person in relation to his principal's affairs, he shall be guilty of a See also:

MISDEMEANOUR (from O. Fr. mes- and demener, to conduct oneself ill)

misdemeanour and shall be liable on conviction or See also:

INDICTMENT (from Anglo-Fr. enditernent, enditer, to charge; Lat. in, against, dictare, declare)

indictment to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding two years, or to afine not exceeding ksoo, or to both, or on See also:

SUMMARY

summary conviction to imprisonment not exceeding four months with or without hard labour or to a See also:

FINE

fine not exceeding £5o , or both. The act also applies the same See also:

PUNISHMENT (from Lat. punire, to punish, from poena, punishment, Gr. 7rocvil)

punishment to any person who corruptly gives or offers any gift or consideration to an agent. Also if a person knowingly gives an agent, or if an agent knowingly uses, any See also:

RECEIPT (M.E. receite, derived through Fr. from Lat. recepta, participle of recipere, to receive)

receipt, account or document with See also:

INTENT (from Lat. intend ere, to stretch out, extend, particularly in the phrase intendere animum, to turn one's mind to, purpose)

intent to mislead the principal, they are guilty of a misdemeanour and liable to the punishment already mentioned. For the purposes of the act " consideration " includes valuable consideration of any See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind, and " agent " includes any person employed by or acting for another. No See also:

PROSECUTION

prosecution can be instituted without the consent of the See also:

ATTORNEY (from O. Fr. atorne, a person appointed to act for another, from atourner, legal Lat. attornare, attorn, literally to turn over to another or commit business to another)

attorney-See also:

general, and every See also:

INFORMATION (from Lat. informare, to give shape or form to, to represent, describe)

information must be upon See also:

OATH (0. Eng. ddh)

oath.

Legislation to the same effect has been adopted in See also:

AUSTRALIA

Australia. A federal act was passed in 1905 dealing with secret commissions, and in the same See also:

YEAR

year both See also:

Victoria and Western Australia passed drastic See also:

MEASURES

measures to prevent the giving or receiving corruptly of commissions. The Victorian act applies to trustees, executors, administrators and liquidators as well as to agents. Both the Victorian and the Western Australian acts enact that gifts to the See also:

PARENT, SIMON NAPOLEON (1855– )

parent, wife, See also:

child, partner or employer of an agent are to be deemed gifts to the agent unless the contrary is proved; also that the custom of any See also:

trade or calling is not in itself a See also:

defence to a prosecution. Commissions of Inquiry, i.e. commissions for the purpose of eliciting information as to the operation of See also:

LAWS

laws, or investigating particular matters, social, educational, &c., are distinguished, according to the terms of their See also:

APPOINTMENT, POWER OF

appointment, as royal, statutory and departmental. A royal commission in England is appointed by the See also:

CROWN

crown, and the commissions usually issue from the office of the executive See also:

government which they specially concern. The See also:

OBJECTS

objects of the inquiry are carefully defined in the See also:

WARRANT (Med. Lat. warantum; O. Fr. garant, warant, derived from O.H.G. root represented in modern German bygewdhren)

warrant constituting the commission, which is termed the " reference." The commissioners give their services gratuitously, but where they involve any great degree of professional skill See also:

COMPENSATION (from Lat. compensare, to weigh one thing against another)

compensation is allowed for See also:

time and labour. The expenses incurred are provided out of See also:

MONEY

money annually voted for the purpose. Unless expressly empowered by act of See also:

PARLIAMENT (Anglo-Lat. parliamentum, Fr. parlement, from parler, to speak)

parliament, a commission cannot compel the See also:

PRODUCTION (Lat. productionem, from producere, to pro-duce)

production of documents or the giving of evidence, nor can it administer an oath. A commission may hold its sittings in any part of the See also:

UNITED

United See also:

KINGDOM

Kingdom, or may See also:

INSTITUTE (from Lat. instituere, to establish or set up)

institute and conduct experiments for the purpose of testing the utility of invention, &c. When the inquiry or any particular portion of it is concluded, a See also:

REPORT (O.Fr. report or raport, modern rapport, from O.Fr. reporter, mod. rap porter, Lat. reportare, to bring back, in poetical use only, of bringing back an account, news, &c.)

report is presented to the crown through the See also:

home See also:

DEPARTMENT (Fr. departement, from departir, to separate into parts)

department. All the commissioners, if unanimous, sign the report, but those who are unable to agree with the See also:

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

majority can See also:

RECORD (Lat. recordari, to recall to mind, from cor, heart or mind)

record their dissent, and express their individual opinions, either in paragraphs appended to the report or in separately signed memoranda.

Statutory commissions are created by acts of parliament, and, with the exception that they are liable to have their proceedings questioned in parliament, have See also:

ABSOLUTE (Lat. absolvere, to loose, set free)

absolute See also:

POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

powers within the limits of their prescribed functions and subject to the provisions of the act defining the same. Departmental commissions or committees are appointed either by a See also:

TREASURY

treasury See also:

minute or by the . authority of a secretary of state, for the purpose of instituting inquiries into matters of See also:

OFFICIAL (Late Lat. QJicialis, for class. Lat. apparitor, from officium, office, duty)

official concern or examining into proposed changes in administrative arrangements. They are generally composed of two or more permanent officials of the department concerned in the investigation, along with a sub-See also:

ORDINATE

ordinate member of the See also:

ADMINISTRATION (Lat. administrare, to serve)

administration. Reports of such committees are usually regarded as confidential documents. A full account of the See also:

PROCEDURE (Fr. procedure, from Lat. procedere, to go for-ward)

procedure in royal commissions will be found in A. Todd's See also:

PARLIAMENTARY

Parliamentary Government in England, vol. ii. COMMISSIONAIRE, the designation of an attendant, messenger or subordinate employe in hotels on the See also:

CONTINENT (from Lat. continere, "to hold together "; hence " connected," " continuous ")

continent of-See also:

EUROPE

Europe, whose chief duty is to attend at railway stations, secure customers, take charge of their luggage, carry out the necessary formalities with respect to it and have it sent on to the hotel. They are also employed in Paris as See also:

street messengers, See also:

LIGHT

light porters, &c. The See also:

CORPS (pronounced as in French, from which it is taken, being a late spelling of tors, from Lat. corpus, a body; cf. " corpse ")

Corps of Commissionaires, in England, is an association of pensioned soldiers of trustworthy See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character, founded in 1859 by See also:

CAPTAIN (derived from Lat. ca put, head, through the Low Lat. capitanus)

Captain See also:

Sir See also:

EDWARD

Edward See also:

Walter, K.C.B. (1823-1904). It was first started in a very small way, with the intention of providing occupation for none but wounded soldiers. The See also:

NUCLEUS (Lat. for the kernal of a nut, nux, the stone of fruit)

nucleus of the corps consisted of eight men, each of whom had lost a See also:

LIMB

limb.

The demand, however, for neat, uniformed, trusty men, to perform certain light duties, encouraged the founder to extend his See also:

IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea, and the corps See also:

DEVELOPED

developed into a large self-supporting organization. In 'gob there were over 3000 members of the corps, more than 2000 of whom served in See also:

LONDON

London. Out-stations were established in various large towns of the kingdom, and the corps extended its operations also to the colonies.

End of Article: COMMISSION (from Lat. commissio, committere)

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