islands. The West Indies form one great source of the commerce of the world; and we must refer the reader, for more particular information, to the articles on the different islands. A new path has been laid open to the commerce of the world by the British, in the Southern ocean, where, of late, the Sandwich, the Friendly and the Society islands have been taken within the circle of European and American intercourse; and in Australia and Van Diemen's land, a great market has been established for the exchange of British manufactures for the productions of nature; while the North Americans have attempted to found commercial settlements on the Washington (Nukahiva) and other islands of the Pacific. (See Moreau de Jonnes Du Commerce extérieur du XIXme Siècle, 2 vols., Paris, 1826.) In 1828, the imports from New Holland and the South sea islands, into Great Britain, amounted to £83,552, and the exports to £267,529. were appointed in all the great commer cial cities of Europe; and, in the course of time, they really became tribunals of jus tice, and were, in part at least, adminis tered by men of legal learning and experience. Pope Paul III confirmed the commercial consuls in Rome. Francis II, in 1560, granted to the Parisian merchants particular arbiters for the adjustment of commercial disputes, and in 1563 was established the Parisian court of commerce, consisting of a judge and four consuls. The same thing soon followed in all the important commercial towns of France. In London, Henry VII appointed particular commercial judges. The president of the commercial tribunal for the Hanse towns, established in 1447, bore the name of alderman. At Nuremberg, in 1621, a similar tribunal was instituted under the name of inspectors of the markets (marktvorsteher). There was one, also, in Botzen, in 1630. The diets of the empire even called upon the German princes and COMMERCIAL COURTS are tribunals dis- commercial cities to follow this example, tinct from the ordinary civil courts, and as the decrees of the empire of 1654 and are established in commercial towns, or 1668, and the decree of the imperial com within certain districts, to settle disputes mission of Oct. 10, 1668, show. In many with regard to rights and obligations be- of these cities, as in Frankfort on the tween persons engaged in trade, with the Maine, and in Leipsic, they were not so assistance of experienced merchants, by a much independent authorities as delegates brief process, according to equitable prin- from the city councils. When commerciples. It is doubtful whether the com- cial courts take cognizance particularly or mercial nations of antiquity had any com- solely of disputes relating to maritime af mercial tribunals of this sort. The general fairs, they are called courts of admiralty. introduction of them began in the middle Such a court was erected in Hamburg in ages. The first of these tribunals was 1623. Among the tribunals more recently probably that established at Pisa, in the established are the French, formed in 11th century, and the basis of its decisions 1808, according to the provisions of the was the code of maritime laws of Pisa, Code de Commerce; and the new Hamconfirmed by pope Gregory VII, in 1075, burg commercial court, of the same kind, from which the Consolato del Mare may which dates from the time when Hamhave been, in part, borrowed. At first, the burg was the chief city of a French de commercial tribunals were not so much partment; this was, in 1816, retained with courts established by government as arbi- some modifications. Their internal reguters of disputes, freely chosen by the mer- lations commonly require that a part of chants, and confirmed by the governments. the members, or, at least, the presidents, This is evident from the first chapter of the should be lawyers: the rest are, for the Consolato del Mare, which runs thus: most part, experienced merchants, who "The good seamen, ship-owners, and sea- are better adapted than regular judges to faring people generally, are accustomed to give counsel on commercial affairs, with assemble on Christmas evening of every which they are more acquainted, and year, either all or the greater part of them, which, very often, are not to be reduced at a place of their appointment, and when to simple principles of law, but are to be nearly all are convened, they appoint, not decided according to commercial practice. by lot, but by vote, two worthy men, ex- Their jurisdiction commonly extends over perienced in all maritime affairs, for their all commercial disputes, whether occur consuls, and another, of the same occupa- ring during the fairs, or at other times, tion, as judge of appeal. To him are matters of exchange, insurance, freight, made all appeals from the sentence of the bottomry, average, &c., and, further, over consuls." Under the name of commercial bankrupts, the hiring of shops and consuls, such committees of arbitration stores, clerks and apprentices, the debts 1 of those who receive goods from merchants upon credit; and all natives and foreigners who traffic in the place, and are found there, all ship-owners, contractors for transporting goods, brokers, factors, &c., are obliged to submit to their decisions. They do as much as possible by oral investigation; and the intention of their institution is, that they shall avoid the long and formal process of other courts. But when the difficulty and confusion of the matters in dispute occasion the necessity of an investigation in writing, recourse is had thereto. The greater despatch of these courts consists principally in this that the defendant is orally summoned, once, or several times, to appear before them, at an early day, and, if he twice fails to come, is brought by force; the complaint is then made orally, both parties are heard, and sentence is given, if possible, immediately after. But, as this can seldom be done, and most cases require reference to written documents, a day not far distant is appointed for the answer to the complaint, and for the evidence on both sides, and the time is seldom or never prolonged. The remedies against a sentence (such as revision, restitution, &c.; see Hamburg Code of Commercial Procedure of Dec. 15, 1815) must be sought from the same judges, and are not easily obtained. Appeals are only allowed in very important cases, and upon the deposit of a large sum as a pledge that the final decision shall be obeyed without delay. The principal features of this process are found in the Consolato del Mare (see chapters 8-31), and form the basis of most commercial codes. According to the French code, each tribunal consists of a president, several judges (not more than 8, and not less than 2, in number), together with several persons, who, in case of a pressure of business, become assistant judges (vice-judges-suppléans), a clerk of the court (greffier), and several inferior officers (huissiers). (Code de Commerce, livre 3, tit. 1, § 615-24.) The members of a commercial tribunal are chosen from among the most respectable merchants. Every merchant 30 years of age, who has done business in an honorable manner for 5 years, can be appointed judge or assistant judge. The president must be 40 years old, and have already exercised the office of judge. The election is made by secret ballot. The members elect take an oath before entering upon their office, which they hold for 2 years; they receive no salary, and cannot be reelected until a year after the expiration of their term. The rules of the commercial tribunal are to be found under the 25th title of the 2d book of the Civil Code, and are very similar to those of the Consolato del Mare. From the sentence of these tribunals appeal is made to the court of appeal within whose jurisdiction they happen to be. (See Commercial Law.) COMMERCIAL LAW (or the law merchant) is that which relates to trade, navigation, maritime contracts, such as those of insurance, bottomry, bills of lading, charter-parties, seamen's wages, general average, and also to bills of exchange, bills of credit, factors and agents. Lord Mansfield describes it as a branch of the public law, and applied to its universal adoption the language of Cicero respecting the great principles of morals and eternal justice-nec erit alia lex Roma, alia Athenis. The body of rules constituting this law is substantially the same in the U. States and Europe, the rules, treatises and decisions of one country and one age being, in general, applicable to the questions arising in any other. The reason is obvious why this law should be common to different nations, for it regulates those contracts and transactions in which they come in contact, being a sort of neutral ground between their hostile interests, institutions, customs and prejudices. National law which regulates the conduct of different nations towards each other, is distinguished from maritime law, by which private contracts between individuals are regulated. The first collection of marine laws was that of Rhodes, of which some fragments have come down to us in the Digest of Justinian, in the title De Lege Rhodia de Jactu; the collection under the title of Rhodian Laws, published at Basle in 1561, and at Frankfort in 1596, being generally considered as spurious. This title and that De Nautico Fenore recognise the first broad principles on the subjects of jettison and maritime law. The law de exercitoria actione, in the Digest, also transmits to us their principles as to the liability of the owners for the acts and contracts of the master of a vessel. The remaining rules and principles by which the commercial transactions of the ancients, in the Mediterranean, were governed, have, for the most part, passed into oblivion. The reason of so small a space being assigned to this branch of jurisprudence, in the Roman laws, may be the low estimation in which trade was held by the Romans, who prohibited men of birth and rank from engaging in commerce, of which the code (4. 63. 3) speaks contemptuously; and Cicero says it was not fitting that the same people should be both the porters and the masters of the world. The Greeks, being the merchants and navigators of the ancients, adopted the Rhodian laws, with modifications. The Athenian law, on the subject of maritime loans, is stated particularly in Boeckh's Economy of Athens, b. 1, sec. 23, from which it appears that the rules on this subject were very definitely settled. The laws of trade naturally followed the trade which they were designed to regulate. Accordingly, we find them first revived in the middle ages, on the shores of the same sea, in one of the islands of which they had their origin; a collection of them being made at Amalfi, a city within the limits of the present kingdom of Naples, about the time of the first crusade, towards the close of the 11th century, called the Amalfitan Table, the authority of which was acknowledged throughout Italy. The origin of the compilation of sea laws, which passes under the title of Consolato del Mare, though involved in some obscurity, is most generally assigned to the city of Barcelona, in Spain. Some writers, however, and particularly Azuni, claim the honor of this collection also for Italy. But Casaregis, a profound commercial jurist, who published an edition of it, in Italian, at Venice, in 1737, and M. Boucher, who published a French translation in 1808, from what he considers the original edition of Barcelona of 1494, both admit the Spanish claim. These laws are supposed by M. Boucher to have been adopted and in use as early as the 9th century, and their authority was acknowledged in all the maritime countries of Europe, and some of the articles of this collection form a part of the present commercial law of all civilized nations. It has been translated into German, also, but no entire English translation has yet been made. It is an ill-arranged, confused compilation; and, though it is interesting as a historical record of the marine laws and customs of the middle ages, a large proportion of its provisions do not apply to the modes of transacting business and making contracts in modern times. The Jugemens d'Oléron (or Laws of Oleron) are supposed to have been compiled about the time of Richard I; and the honor of this collection, like that of the Consolato, from which it is partly borrowed, is in dispute, being claimed for the French by Valin, Emerigon and Cleirac, who say it was made by order of queen Eleanor, duchess of Guienne, for the use of that province, and adopted by her son Richard I, duke of Gui enne. But Selden, Coke and Blackstone assert that it is an English work, published by Richard I, in his character of king of England. The maritime codes of Wisbuy and the Hanse towns are also of historical celebrity, and constitute a part of the legal antiquities of this branch of jurisprudence. These were the principal marine codes down to 1673, the date of the French ordinance of commerce, which treated largely of bills of exchange, and negotiable paper. In 1681 was published, also, the French Ordinance of Marine, one of the most glorious monuments of the reign of Louis XIV. It was framed under the influence of Colbert, and merits all its celebrity, being comprehensive, and including provisions, not only on many of the subjects of commercial law, as we have defined its limits, but, also, very ample regulations on the subject of prizes. These ordinances are the foundation of the present system of marine law in Europe and the U. States. Valin's commentary upon the Ordinance of the Marine, published in 1760, is a profound, original, comprehensive, learned and accurate work. In 1763, he also published his commentaries on the provisions of the ordinance in relation to prizes. About 20 years afterwards (1782), Emerigon published his masterly treatise on insurance The two ordinances, with the commentary of Valin, and the treatise of Emerigon, made the commercial law a science, of which the principles were now settled, and their application also traced out into a great number of examples. It was now in the power of jurists, judges and legislators to make every new question and case that should arise only a confirmation and extension, in application, of doctrines which had been established upon conclusive reasons, and made parts of a harmonious system; and all the commercial nations have adopted the systein thus formed. It constitutes the present French code of commerce, and appears every where in the British, American and continental treatises and decisions. The other Erench writers of greatest celebrity, on this branch of law, are Pothier, Cleirac and Boucher. Mr. Jacobsen, a jurisconsult of Altona, has published a useful work on the subject of sea laws. The earlier English writers on commercial law were Malynes (a merchant), Molloy (a lawyer), Beawes (a merchant), Postlethwaite, Magens (a dispacheur, or adjuster of marine losses, originally of Hamburg, afterwards of London) and Wiskett (a merchant). But the marine law cannot be considered as having become a branch of the general science of jurisprudence in England, until the time of lord Mansfield, who appears to have had some considerable acquaintance with the treatise of Valin, from which he drew principles and reasons, and incorporated them into the reluctant common law. By degrees, during his judicial career, this branch of jurisprudence gained popularity, and, from that time, has occupied an important part of the British legal administration, though very few legislative enactments have either disturbed or promoted its progress. Though the maritime law in that country continued in a very rude and undigested state, long after it was arranged into an admirable system in France, yet the assiduity with which it has been cultivated since its introduction, and the splendid talents which have been brought to its illustration, have contributed to advance it with a rapid progress. Among the ornaments of this branch of law, we ought particularly to mention lord Stowell, judge of the British high court of admiralty, a jurist and judge unsurpassed in comprehensiveness of learning, depth, justness and clearness of thinking, cogency of reasoning, richness of illustration and brilliancy of expression. The present chief-justice of the court of king's bench, lord Tenterden, Iras also, by his learned and well arranged treatise on merchant shipping, as well as by his opinions from the bench, contributed very materially to the present advanced state of British commercial jurisprudence. The other principal writers on this law are Millar, Park, Marshall, Bayley, Chitty, Lawes, Holt and Benecke. Nor have the U. States been idle spectators of this improvement in a branch of law in which their industry and prosperity are so deeply interested. Though they have supplied but few original systematic treatises and digests, yet, in the numerous important and interesting questions that have been brought under discussion before the legal tribunals, the research, comprehensive views and logical power displayed both by the counsel and the courts, will support a comparison with those of their European contemporaries, who might derive very useful additions to. their own adjudications, particularly on the subjects of merchants' shipping and insurance, from the American reports. It is not, perhaps, invidious to distinguish, among the most eminent of those who have contributed to the elucidation of the commercial law, chief-justice Marshall and justices Washington and Story, of the supreme court of the U. States, and chancellor Kent of New York. COMMERSON, Philibert, a botanist, born 1727, at Chatillon-les-Dombes, was a doctor of medicine in Montpellier. In 1767, at the command of the king of France, he accompanied Bougainville (q. v.) on his voyage round the world. From the name of a young French lady, Hortense Barré, who accompanied him in a man's dress, he called a flower, now well known, Hortensia. During this voyage, he died on the Isle de France, in 1773. He wrote, among other things, a botanical martyrology-a biography of those who have fallen victims to their efforts in the cause of botany. He left his plants, drawings and papers to the royal cabinet at Paris. COMMINES. (See Comines.) COMMITTEE. Large deliberative assemblies, with a great variety of business before them, are unable to discuss and investigate, sufficiently, many subjects on which they are obliged to act. Coinmittees, therefore, are appointed, to examine and to report to the assembly. Committees have a right to choose their chairman In the English parliament and the legislative bodies in the United States, as, in fact, in all legislative bodies in representative governments, there are select and standing committees. The French chambers are divided into bureaux. The standing committees are appointed, in England and the United States, by the speaker or president of the house, at the beginning of each session. In the English parliament, the standing committees appointed at every session are those of privileges and elections, of religion, of grievances, of courts of justice, and of trade, though only the first mentioned acts. In the congress of the U. States, the standing committees are very numerous; some of the most important are those of elections, of ways and means, of commerce, of public lands, of the judiciary, of public expenditures, of Indian affairs, of foreign affairs, of manufactures, &c. In fact, business is done by means of committees much more in the American congress than in the Euglish parliament. The French chamber, on the request of five members, must resolve itself into a secret committee Committee of the Whole. Matters of great concernment are usually referred to a committee of the whole house, where general principles are digested in the form of resolutions, which are debated and amended, till they take a shape which meets the approbation of the majority. These, being reported, and confirmed ov the house, are then referred to one or more select committees, according as the subject divides itself into one or more bills. The sense of the whole assembly is better taken in committee, because in all committees every one speaks as often as he pleases. They generally acquiesce in the chairman named by the speaker, but, like all other committees, have a right to elect their chairman, some member, by consent, putting the question. When the house is desirous of forming itself into a committee, the speaker, on motion, puts the question whether the house will resolve itself into a committee of the whole, to take into consideration such a matter, naming it. No previous question can be put in a committee; nor can this committee adjourn, as others may; but, if their business is unfinished when the time of separation arrives, a motion is made for rising, and the chairman reports that the committee of the whole have, according to order, had under their consideration such a matter, and have made progress therein, but, not having had time to go through the same, have directed him to ask leave to sit again. The question is then put whether the request shall be granted, and, if so, at what time the house will again resolve itself into a committee. But, if they have gone through the matter referred to them, the chairman reports, either immediately, or, if the house wish, at a later period. (See Jefferson's Manual of Parliamentary Practice, pp. 33, 39.) COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY (Comité de Salut Public). Under this name, the Mountain party or Terrorists (see Terror, Reign of), in the national convention (see France), concealed the dictatorial power which they had assumed to overthrow the Girondists (q. v.) and the moderate party, that the Mountain party might rule, and the republic triumph over its domestic and foreign enemies. The revolutionary tribunal was subservient to this committee, which was at first composed of 9, then of 12 members. The committee was established April 6th, 1793, in the stead of the comité de défense générale, which had existed hardly 10 days; and the convention, from the midst of which its members (among them Danton, Barrère, Cambon) were chosen, intrusted it with unlimited power of secret deliberation, and of supervising the ministers. It was, n every case, to provide for the public welfare as its own judgment should dictate; and therefore, after the lapse of a few months, the right of imprisonment Carnot (q. v.), was also given it. The prevailing party acted on the ground that France, threatened from within and without, could not be governed as if at peace (as the Girondists wished), but could only be saved by desperate measures, as in times of the greatest danger. But, after the downfall of the Girondists, June 1st and 2d, 1793. when the Mountain, on the rerommendation of the committee of safety, declared that the population of France consisted of but two parties, patriots and enemies of the revolution, and consigned the latter to the persecution of all good citizens, terror took the place of law. Robespierre (q. v.) soon afterwards, July 27, 1793, became a member of the committee of safety, the members of which were appointed monthly; but the old members were, at this period, commonly reelected. From this time, the committee governed the Mountain party, and, through it, the convention. As the sole rule of his conduct, Robespierre declared that the main-spring of a popular government in a state of revolution was la vertu et la terreur ! With him, and in accordance with his views, St. Just, Couthon, Billaud de Varennes, Collot d'Herbois and Hérault de Séchelles acted in the committee. likewise a member of the committee of public safety, confined himself to the direction of the armies, and left to his colleagues the affairs of the interior. At the motion of these men, the new constitution was suspended for a time, and the revolutionary government conferred on the committee of safety, by a decree of the convention, of Dec. 4, 1793. The committee now instituted in all the communes of the republic, as judges of the suspected, revolutionary committees, composed of the most furious zealots: the number of these new tribunals was as great as 20,000. The last remaining forms of regular process were abolished; their place was supplied by violence, and often by avarice and folly. In this time of internal revolutions, and danger from without, it was not in the power of man to restrain the exasperated fury, which, probably, alone prevented France from being conquered. Finally, Danton, who had absented himself for a time from the committee, on account of the influence of Robespierre, declared himself against this system of bloodshed; and Robespierre himself acquiesced in the condemnation of the ringleaders of the Paris mob (March 24, 1794), among whom was Hébert (q. v.); but, soon after (April 5), Danton, with Hérault de Séchelles, was himself overthrown by Robes |