Legal Dictionary of Pakistan
Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.
Civil Service Commission
A defunct federal board created in 1883 to ensure that civilservice employees are hired on the basis of merit rather than personal preference or political considerations. ( In 1978, the Commission's functions were split between the Office of Personnel Management and the Merit Systems Protection Board.
Commission
n. 1. A warrant or authority, from the government or a court, that empowers the person named to execute official acts <the student received his commission to the U.S. Navy after graduation>. 2. The authority under which a person transacts business for another <the client gave her attorney express commission to sign the contract>. 3. A body of persons acting under lawful authority to perform certain public services <the Federal Communications Commission>.
Commission of Gaol Delivery
Hist. A royal appointment authorizing a judge to go on the assize circuit and hear all criminal cases of those held in county jails. See JAIL DELIVERY. Cf COMMISSION OF OYER AND TERMINER.
Commission of Oyer and Terminer
[Law French oyer et terminer "to hear and determine"] Hist. A royal appointment authorizing a judge (often a serjeant-at-law) to go on the assize circuit and hear felony and treason cases. Cf COMMISSION OF GAOL DELIVERY; COURT OF OYER AND TERMINER."[U]nder the commission of Oyer and Terminer, as the judges are directed to inquire as well as to hear and determine the same, they can only proceed upon an indictment found at the same assize, and before themselves; for they must first inquire by means of the grand jury or inquest, before they are empowered to hear and determine by the intervention of the petit jury." 1 Joseph Chitty, A Practical Treatise on the Criminal Law 142 (2d ed. 1826).
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
A federal agency that supervises the trading of commodity futures and commodity options. -Abbr. CFTC.
Court of High Commission
Hist. Eccles. law. A tribunal responsible for inquiring into religious offenses such as adultery, the holding of heretical opinions, and absence from church. The High Commission was created to prosecute violations of the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity (1559), the statutes that gave the Crown supreme power over the Church of England. From about 1580 on, the High Commission functioned as a court. The Court's broad powers and use of civil-law procedures in ways counter to the common law (such as compelling suspects to testify against themselves) sparked opposition to its existence. Its close relationship with the Court of Star Chamber hastened its demise (along with the Star Chamber) in 1641. - Also termed High Commission Court. "[T]he court of the king's high commission in causes ecclesiastical ... was intended to vindicate the dignity and peace of the church, by reforming, ordering, and correcting the ecclesiastical state and persons, and all manner of errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, offences, contempts, and enormities. Under the shelter of which very general words, means were found in that and the two succeeding reigns, to vest in the high commissioners extraordinary and almost despotic powers, of fining and imprisoning; which they exerted much beyond the degree of the offence itself, and frequently over offences by no means of spiritual cognizance. For these reasons this court was justly abolished by Statute 16 Car. I, c. 11. And the weak and illegal attempt that was made to revive it, during the reign of King James the second, served only to hasten that infatuated prince's ruin." 3 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 67-68 (1768).
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
A federal agency created under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to end discriminatory employment practices and to promote nondiscrim- inatory employment programs.( The EEOC investigates alleged discriminatory employment practices and encourages mediation and other nonlitigious means of resolving employment disputes. A claimant is required to file a charge of discrimination with the EEOC before pursuing a claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and certain other employment-related statutes. - Abbr. EEOC.
Federal Communications Commission
The federal agency that regulates interstate and foreign communications by radio, television, telephone, and telegraph, and oversees radio and television broadcasting standards, cabletelevision operations, two-way-radio operators, and satellite communications. - Abbr. FCC. federal court. See COURT.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The agency responsible for administering the Natural Gas Act and the Natural Gas Policy Act. ( The commission regulates, among other things, interstate oil-and-gas pipelines and some intrastate oil-and-gas operations. - Abbr. FERC. - Also formerly termed Federal Power Commission.
Federal Maritime Commission
A federal agency that regulates the waterborne foreign and domestic commerce of the United States. - Abbr. FMC.
Federal Power Commission
See FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION.
Federal Trade Commission
The independent regulatory agency created in 1914 to enforce the antitrust laws and other prohibitions against false, deceptive, and unfair advertising or trade practices. - Abbr. FTC.
High Commission Court.
See COURT of HIGH COMMISSION.
Indian Claims Commission
A federal agency - dissolved in 1978 - that adjudicated claims brought by American Indians, a tribe, or another identifiable group of Indians against the United States. ( The U.S. Court of Federal Claims currently hears these claims.
International Law Commission
A body crated in 1948 by the United Nations for the purpose of codifying international law. ( Ti-it Commission is composed of experts in international law. It sits at the European Office of the United Nations in Geneva, though its annual meetings are sometimes held elsewhere.
Interstate Commerce Commission
The now defunct federal agency established by the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 to regulate surface transportation between states by certifying carriers and pipelines and by monitoring quality and pricing. * In December 1995, when Congress eliminated this agency, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) - a three-member board that is a division of the Department of Transportation - assumed most of the agency's duties. - Abbr. ICC.
Maritime Commission
A federal agency that regulates the waterborne foreign and domestic commerce of the United States by: (1) ensuring that U.S. international trade is open to all countries on fair and equitable terms, (2) guarding against unauthorized monopolies in U.S. waterborne commerce, and (3) ensuring that financial responsibility is maintained to clean up oil spills and indemnify injured passengers.
National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws
An organization that drafts and proposes statutes for adoption by individual states, with the goal of making the laws on various subjects uniform among the states. ( Founded in 1892 and composed of representatives from all 50 states, the Conference has drafted more than 200 uniform laws, including the Uniform Commercial Code. -Abbr. NCCUSL. - Also termed Uniform Law Commissioners. See UNIFORM ACT; MODEL ACT.
Securities and Exchange Commission
The federal agency that regulates the issuance and trading of securities in an effort to protect investors against fraudulent or unfair practices. ( The Commission was established by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. - Abbr. SEC.
Uniform Law Commissioners
See NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF COMMISSIONERS ON UNIFORM STATE LAWS.
United States Commissioner
Hist. A judicial officer appointed by a U.S. district court to hear a variety of pretrial matters in criminal cases. ( Commissioners' duties have been transferred to U.S. Magistrate Judges. Cf. UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE. commissioner's court See COURT,
act of commission.
See ACT (2).
commission broker
A member of a stock or commodity exchange who executes buy and sell orders.
commission del credere
The commission received by the seller's agent for guaranteeing a buyer's debt.
commission government
A type of municipal government in which the legislative power is in the hands of a few people
commission merchant
See FACTOR.
commission of appraisement and sale
Maritime law. A court order requiring the sale of property in an in-rem admiralty action.
commission of assize
Hist. A royal authorization empowering a person to hold court and try cases arising while the justices in eyre held court elsewhere. Cf EYRE.
commission of charitable uses
Hist. An authorization issuing out of the Court of Chancery to a bishop or other person authorizing the appointee to investigate allegations of fraud or other disputed matters concerning charitable land grants.
commission of delegates
Hist. A commission appointing a person (usu. a lord, bishop, or judge) to sit with several other appointees to hear an appeal of an ecclesiastical judgment in the Court of Chancery. ( This commission was abolished in 1832, and its functions transferred to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
commission of lieutenancy
Hist. A commission issued to send officers into every county to establish military order over the inhabitants. This commission superseded the former commission of array, which provided the same powers. The commissions became obsolete with the establishment of the militia system.
commission of lunacy
See DE LUNATICO IN. QUIRENDO.
commission of nnlivery
Hist. A court order requiring the unloading of goods from a ship so that they may be appraised.
commission of partition
An authorization appointing a person to sit with several other appointees for the purpose of dividing land held by tenants in common who desire a partition.
commission of rebellion
-list. An attaching process that empowered a layperson to arrest and bring a defendant to Chancery to enforce obedience to a writ of subpoena or decree. ( The commission of rebellion was abolished in 1841. - Also termed writ of rebellion; commissio rebellionis; breve rebellionis."Commission of rebellion (Commissio rebellionis) is otherwise called a writte of rebellion, (breue rebellionis) and it hath use, when a man after proclamation made by the Shyreeve upon an order of the channcerie, or court of Starre chamber, under penaltie of his allegance, to present himselfe to the court by a certaine day, appeareth not. And this commission is directed by way of command to certain persons, to this end, that they ... apprehend, or cause to be apprehended, the party as a rebell and contemner of the kings lawes." John Cowell, The Interpreter (1607).
commission of review
Hist. In England, an authorization sometimes granted in an extraordinary case to review a judgment of the Court of Delegates. ( The commission of review is no longer used because the Privy Council was substituted for the Court of Delegates as the appellate court in ecclesiastical cases in 1832. See COURT OF DELEGATES.
commission of the peace
Hist. An appointment of a person to keep the peace (i.e., provide police protection) on a local level. ( Over time the recipients of these commissions began to acquire judicial responsibilities, and became known as justices of the peace.
commission plan
A form of municipal government whereby both legislative and executive power is vested in a small group of elected officials. Today, commission plans are used in only a few cities.
commission to examine a witness
A judicial commission directing that a witness beyond the court's territorial jurisdiction be deposed. Cf. LETTER OF REQUEST.
commissioned officer
See OFFICER (2)
commissioned officer.
An officer in the armed forces who holds grade and office under a presidential commission.
commissioner
1. A person who directs a commission; a member of a commission. 2. The administrative head of an organization, such as a professional sport.
commissioner o f woods and forests
Hist. An officer who, by an 1817 Act of Parliament, assumed the jurisdiction of the Chief Justice of the Forest.
commissioner of bail
An officer appointed to take bail bonds.
commissioner of deeds
An officer authorized by a state to take acknowledgments of deeds and other papers while residing in another state. ( The acknowledgments are recognized in the state that licensed the commissioner. Cf. NOTARY PUBLIC.
commissioner of highways
A public officer responsible for overseeing the construction, alteration, and repair of highways.
commissioner's court
In certain states, a court having jurisdiction over county affairs and often functioning more as a managerial group than as a judicial tribunal. common pleas court. See COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.
county commissioner
See COMMISSIONER.
court commissioner
An officer appointed by the court esp. to hear and report facts, or to conduct judicial sales.
del credere commission
A factor's commission that is increased because the factor guarantees the payment to the principal of all debts that become due through the agency relationship.