Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/147

 COMMANDERY blies, there were in the later ages of the repub- lic lesser comitia, termed comitia calata, which were held for the election of priests and the regulation of testamentary matters, and in which the people acted only as witnesses. COMMANDERY, a species of benefice, or an honorary dignity, belonging to certain of the orders of chivalry, and conferred upon aged knights who had rendered worthy services to the order or to the state. The term was first used in the 13th century, and was applied to sums saved from the revenues of the order for the support of warriors fighting against the Mohammedans. It was afterward applied to benefices distant from the residence of the or- der, and over which a knight was set to col- lect the revenues. Subsequently, the system of benefices having been abolished with the decline of feudalism, the orders of chivalry preserved the name after they had lost the sub- stance, and conferred the honorary dignity and the title of what had formerly been a revenue. Among the knights of Malta, those to whom commanderies were given were called com- manders, .and were rather the farmers than the beneficiaries of the order, since they paid a certain rent or tribute to the common treasury. The grand commander was the first dignitary of the order after the grand master. When the religious houses in England were suppressed by Henry VIII. there were more than 50 com- manderies in the country. There were com- manderies also in the orders of St. Bernard and St. Anthony, and in the Spanish orders of Santiago, of Calatrava, and of Alcantara. COMMODORE (It. commendatore, a com- mander), a naval officer who usually commands a squadron of ships upon particular service, his 'own ship being distinguished by a broad pennant worn at the main. In the navy of the United States, by an act of congress of July 16, 1862, a commodore ranks between a rear admiral and a captain ; the grade corresponds with that of a brigadier general in the army. Previous to that act commodore was only a title of courtesy in the American navy, captain having been the highest actual rank till 185T, when a law of congress created the title of flag officer for the commander of a squadron. COMMODUS ANTONINUS, Lucius Anrelins, em- peror of Eome, born at Lanuvium, A. D. 161, assassinated Dec. 31, 192. He was the son of Marcus Aurelius and the younger Faustina, daughter of Antoninus Pius. He inherited all the vices of his mother, without any of the virtues of his father, and his advent to the throne in 180 was the signal for a series of cruelties, rivalling if not surpassing those of Caligula and Nero. Hastily making peace with the Quadi and other German tribes, he gave himself up to the vilest debauchery, and even his own sisters became the victims of his lust. Appearing as Hercules before the people, he slew thousands of beasts with bow and spear, and fought publicly as a gladiator many hundred times, while the affairs of the govern- 215 VOL. v. 10 COMMON 143 ment were left in the hands of the freedmen Perennis, Anterus, Cleander, Leetus, Eclectus, and other worthless favorites. The enormous taxes requisite to support his extravagance, a conflagration of Rome, and a famine, at length drove the people to despair, and disturbances broke out which caused the death of Cleander. Finally, his own favorites, finding that they were marked for execution, resolved upon his death; and the poison administered by his concubine Marcia working too slowly, the gladiator Narcissus was called to strangle him. The senate declared him an enemy of the republic, and commanded his statues to be broken, and his name to be erased from the public inscriptions. Several detected conspir- acies, some victories over the Caledonians achieved by Ulpius Marcellus, and the addition of an African corn fleet to that of Egypt, are the principal events of his reign. COMMON* Rights of, the use for certain pur- poses of land belonging to another. In the ancient law they were designated as common of pasture, of piscary, of turbary, and of estovers, and this classification is retained by Blackstone ; but it lacks precision, for piscary does not belong to lands at all ; and again, the right to the use of the water for fishing, &c., is in many cases all the estate that can be claimed by any one, and there are instances where such use is common to all persons with- out distinction. There is but one case which would come within the definition, and that is common of piscary in inland waters, the land under which is by the common law held to belong to the owner of the soil adjoin- ing the water. This would give such owner the exclusive use of the water, except for navigation, but a prescriptive right may be acquired by another having no interest in the fee. The other rights relate altogether to husbandry, and consist of the right to pasture cattle or other animals belonging to farmers upon lands of another, and to cut turf and wood for necessary fuel and repairs. The common of pasturage is the most important of these, and has been treated of hi the books much more fully than the others, but the prin- ciples applicable to each are substantially the same. This right is in the old cases held to be appendant, appurtenant, because of vicinage, or in gross. It was appendant when it be- longed to arable lands which were originally part of the manor in which the common was claimed, and the commonable right was in such case limited to beasts of the plough, and such as were used for manure. Common appurte- nant had no necessary connection of tenure, but might be claimed in other manors than that to which the land whereto the common was appurtenant originally belonged. Nor was it limited to any particular animals, but included every description, as hogs, goats, &c., as well as those which were used in tillage. The difference in origin between these two was that the former grew out of the origi-