COMMISSIONER

This article appears in Volume V06, Page 776 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: CLI-COM

COMMISSIONER , in general an officer appointed to carry out some particular

work

WORK

, or to discharge the duty of a particular office; one who is a member of a commission (q.v.). In this sense the word is applied to members of a permanently constituted department of the administration, as civil service commissioners, commissioners of income tax, commissioners in lunacy, &c. It is also the title given to the heads of or important officials in various governmental departments, as commissioner of customs. In some British possessions in Africa and the Pacific the head of the government is styled high commissioner. In India a commissioner is the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

administrative official of a division which includes several districts. The office does not exist in

Madras

MADRAS

, where the same duties are discharged by a board of revenue, but is found in most of the other provinces. .The commissioner comes midway between the local government and the

district

DISTRICT

officer. In the regulation provinces the

district

DISTRICT

officer is called a collector (q.v.), and in the non-regulation provinces a deputy-commissioner. In the former he must always be a member of the covenanted civil service, but in the latter he may be a military officer.
A

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

commissioner is a high Indian official, governing a province inferior in status to a lieutenant-governorship, but in direct subordination to the

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

-general in council. The provinces which have chief commissioners are the Central Provinces and Berar, the North-West Frontier Province and

Coorg

COORG (an anglicized corruption of Kodagu, said to be derived from the Kanarese Kudu, " steep," " hilly ")

. The agent to the

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

-general of

Baluchistan

BALUCHISTAN

is also chief commissioner of British

Baluchistan

BALUCHISTAN

, the agent to the governor-general of Rajputana is also chief commissioner of the British district of Ajmere-Merwara, and there is a chief commissioner of the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Several provinces, such as the Punjab, Oudh, Burma and Assam, were administered by chief commissioners before they were raised to the status of lieutenant-governorships (see LIEUTENANT).
A commissioner for oaths in England is a solicitor appointed by the lord chancellor to administer oaths to persons making affidavits for the purpose of any cause or matter. The Commissioner for Oaths Act 188g - (with an amending act 1891), amending and consolidating various other acts, regulates the appointment and powers of such commissioners. In most large towns the minimum qualification for appointment is six years' continuous practice, and the application must be supported by two barristers, two solicitors and at least six neighbours of the applicant. The charge made by commissioners for every oath, declaration, affirmation or

attestation

ATTESTATION (Lat. adtestare, attestare, to
bear
witness
- WITNESS
- WITNESS (from O. Eng. witan, to know)
, testis, a
witness
- WITNESS
- WITNESS (from O. Eng. witan, to know)
)

upon honour is one shilling and sixpence; for marking each exhibit (a document or other thing sworn to in an affidavit and shown to a deponent when being sworn), one shilling.

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