COMMISSION, Governmental. A more or less temporary board to which authority is delegated for a specific purpose. Commis sions may be used either for domestic govern ment or for international arbitration. Among the more important commissions which have been employed in the United, States for the settlement of internal problems are the Inter state Commerce Commission and the Industrial Relations Commission (qq.v.). In Great Britain a recognized means of collecting in formation for the purposes of determining a policy or formulating legislation is the em ployment of commissions of inquiry. These are classed as royal, statutory or departmental, according to whether they are appointed by a command of the Crown, by an act of Parlia ment or by a treasury minute or the authority of a Secretary of State. The authority of these commissions is dependent on the particular terms of their creation.
The United States has often made use of commissions to adjust the claims of individual citizens with reference to international disputes.
Commissions of this sort were employed in connection with the Treaty of 1819 with Spain, in which Florida was ceded; under the Treaty of 1826 with Great Britain, to distribute the indemnity granted for slaves deported in viola tion of the Treaty of Ghent; under the Treaty of 1831 with France, to distribute the indemnity for the Spoliation Claims; and under the Treaty of 1871 with Great Britain, to distribute the indemnity for the Alabama Claims.
Arbitrations are usually carried on by inter national commissions, which may or may not contain, in addition to the representatives of the nations involved in the dispute, the repre sentatives of disinterested neutral nations. The commission may have authority sufficiently wide to settle the entire question at issue, or it may recommend courses to thegovernments concerned, without imparting to these recom mendations any binding force. See ARBITRA