CONVENTION (Fr., from Lat. conrcatio, coming together, a meeting, from convcoirc, to meet, from coo-, together + venire, to come). 1 n the civil law-, a contract, pact, or treaty. Hence, in more general usage, a rule of conduct depending upon agreement, express or implied, rather than on any positive rule of law. Thus, we speak of the conventions of a constitution, meaning those parts of it which are the result of custom and of general agreement, as distill euished from the law of the constitution, which is embodied in statutes or in judicial decisions. The term is also employed in a technical sense, in the language of diplomacy, and in military aflairs, with the signification of treaty or agree ment respecting the conduct of military opera tions or the relations of the contracting parties to one another.
In the political sense, the term 'convention' signifies an extraordinary assemblage of dele gates, representing the people of a State or the members of a political party. for other purposes than the regular functions of government. Thus,
a regular legislative body is not a convention, though the term is sometimes applied to the joint meetings of the two Houses of a State Legislature when convened for the formal elec tion of it United States Senator. The two Houses of Parliament constitatte a convention. whether acting jointly or severally, if assembled without authority of law. This was the character of the two 'convention Parliaments.' as they were called, which met in 1660 to restore Charles II. to the throne, and in 1689 to alter the succession from the House of Stuart to William and Mary. In both of these cases the illegal and revolution ary acts performed were afterwards validated and confirmed by regular acts of Parliament. Of a similar character was the convention by which the first French Republic was declared in 1792, and under which the Revolution was car ried on till the establishment of the Directory in 1795.