from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
noun An atmosphere of social harmony.
noun Law The principle by which a court in one jurisdiction defers to a court in another jurisdiction where either would have legal power to decide the case, or gives effect to the laws, executive acts, or legal decisions of another jurisdiction.
from The Century Dictionary.
noun Mildness and suavity in intercourse; courtesy; civility.
noun In international law, that courtesy between states or nations by which the laws and institutions of the one are recognized, and in certain cases and under certain limitations given effect to, by the government of the other, within its territory.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
noun Mildness and suavity of manners; courtesy between equals; friendly civility.
noun (International Law) the courtesy by which nations recognize within their own territory, or in their courts, the peculiar institutions of another nation or the rights and privileges acquired by its citizens in their own land. By some authorities private international law rests on this comity, but the better opinion is that it is part of the common law of the land, and hence is obligatory as law.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
noun Courtesy and consideratebehaviour towards others; socialharmony.
noun Friendly understanding and mutual recognition between two entities, especially nations.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
noun a state or atmosphere of harmony or mutual civility and respect
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Latin cōmitās, from cōmis, friendly; see smei- in Indo-European roots.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Latin comitas, from comis ("courteous")
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Examples
FRANKEN: You know it's -- the Senate is an institution that prides itself on what it calls comity, to be distinguished from comedy, but comity, which means intense politeness no matter what, no matter how insincere.
The principle of comity is that when one court exercising proper jurisdiction renders an opinion concerning a specific case, then that opinion is binding on other courts to which this same case (same parties, same facts, same issues) is re-presented to a different court under some pretext, except where the second court is exercising appellate review over the first decision.
Then Ansari, a member of the parliament took the floor and talked about the "fact finding" committee and the fact that everyone in that comity is an Ahmadinejad supporter and therefore questioned the legitimacy of the committee.
There can be no doubt that it is little incidents like this which are gradually breaking down the inter-racial barriers, and making for a more perfect comity and understanding between the various nations of the world. -- ''Yashima, or, The Gorgeous West'' by R T Sherwood, 1931.
fbharjo commented on the word comity
smile with: be courteous
January 27, 2007
BrainyBabe commented on the word comity
There can be no doubt that it is little incidents like this which are gradually breaking down the inter-racial barriers, and making for a more perfect comity and understanding between the various nations of the world. -- ''Yashima, or, The Gorgeous West'' by R T Sherwood, 1931.
December 24, 2008