COMMISSUM
COMMISSUM One sense of this word is that of
“forfeited,” which is derived from the sense of the verb
committere,
“to attach legal effect to,”
“to make operative.” So
committere
edictum is to occasion an edict to come into force (
Dig. 37,
4,
8.11; 14, 10.5, 11 pr.);
committere poenam or
mulctam is to
make oneself liable to a penalty (
Cic. Clu.
37.103);
stipulatio committitur
means that a stipulation is become operative by the occurrence of a
condition precedent or otherwise. Hence property forfeited by the coming
into effect of a condition was said to be
commissum, as when a
lex commissoria
was attached to a mortgage (
pignus). Thus
Cicero (
Cic. Fam. 13.56) speaks of a
hypothecated thing becoming
commissa; that is,
becoming the absolute property of the creditor for default of payment.
Commissa hereditas is an inheritance
forfeited as a penalty (
Cic. Ver. 1.10,
§ 27).
Commissum is specially applied to anything
[p. 1.513]such as merchandise confiscated because revenue
duty had not been paid on it, or a proper return of it made to the
publicani. A thing thus forfeited (
vectigalium nomine) ceased to be the property of the
owner and belonged to the
fiscus. Things, the
exportation of which was prohibited, such as arms and ships, might likewise
be subject to forfeiture (
in causam commissi
cadere). In early times the
publicani
had the remedy of distraint on account of unpaid taxes (Gaius, 4.28). The
principle of forfeiture may have been made applicable to such cases by a
lex censoria.
Commissum is used by mediaeval writers to
signify property forfeited, as e. g. to the lord of whom a
fief was held, and
commissio is found in a corresponding sense. (
Dig. 39,
4; Paul.
Sent.
Recept. 5.1;
Fragm. de jure fisci.）
[
E.A.W]
