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An instrument in writing, from the sovereign power of a state or country, executed in due form, bestowing rights, franchises, or privileges. The king [John, a.d. 1215], with a facility somewhat suspicious, signed and sealed the charter which was required of him. This famous deed, commonly called the "Great Charter," ei…

A written order directing a bank or banker to pay money as therein stated. See Bank check, below.

In chief. (a) At the head; as, a commander in chief. (b) (Eng. Law) From the king, or sovereign; as, tenure in chief, tenure directly from the king.

The doctrine of the personal reign of Christ on earth during the millennium.

One who believes in the second coming of Christ to reign on earth a thousand years; a milllenarian.

joys the freedom and privileges of a city; a freeman of a city, as distinguished from a foreigner, or one not entitled to its franchises. That large body of the working men who were not counted as citizens and had not so much as a vote to serve as an anodyne to their stomachs. G. Eliot.

cold. [Obs.] In the aforesaid preamble, the king fairly claweth the great monasteries, wherein, saith he, religion, thanks be to God, is right well kept and observed; though he claweth them soon after in another acceptation. T. Fuller Claw me, claw thee, stand by me and I will stand by you; -- an old proverb. Tyndale.…

his privilege was abridged and modified by various statutes, and finally abolished in the reign of George IV. (1827). -- Regular clergy, Secular clergy See Regular, n., and Secular, a.

mage; -- esp. used of reputation or character. I would not be a stander-by to hear My sovereign mistress clouded so, without My present vengeance taken. Shak.

arried on by water between neighboring ports of the same country, as distinguished fron foreign trade or trade involving long voyages. -- Coasting vessel, a vessel employed in coasting; a coaster.

Tyndall. The tongue whose strains were cogent as commands, Revered at home, and felt in foreign lands. Cowper.

A company of persons from the same country sojourning in a foreign city or land; as, the American colony in Paris.

rcise direct authority; to govern; to sway; to influence; to give an order or orders. And reigned, commanding in his monarchy. Shak. For the king had so commanded concerning [Haman]. Esth. iii. 2.

ave satisfied every duty of political friendship, without commiting the honor of your sovereign. Junius. Any sudden assent to the proposal . . . might possibly be considered as committing the faith of the United States. Marshall.

Eng.] 'T is like the commons, rude unpolished hinds, Could send such message to their sovereign. Shak. The word commons in its present ordinary signification comprises all the people who are under the rank of peers. Blackstone.

iding; inhabiting. All freeholders within the precinct . . . and all persons commorant therein. Blackstone.

of representatives chosen by the communes; the period of its continuance is known as the "Reign of Terror." (b) The revolutionary government, modeled on the commune of 1792, which the communists, so called, attempted to establish in 1871.

with. How ill this dullness doth comport with greatness. Beau. & Fl. How their behavior herein comported with the institution. Locke.

An agreement made between the pope and a sovereign or government for the regulation of ecclesiastical matters with which both are concerned; as, the concordat between Pope Pius VIL and Bonaparte in

confirmed or strengthened for the fulfillment of their Christian duties, by the grace therein bestowed upon them. Hook.