COMMUTATION
Com`mu*ta"tion, n. Etym: [L. commutatio: cf. F. commutation.]
1. A passing from one state to another; change; alteration; mutation. [R.] So great is the commutation that the soul then hated only that which now only it loves. South.
2. The act of giving one thing for another; barter; exchange. [Obs.] The use of money is . . . that of saving the commutation of more bulky commodities. Arbuthnot.
3. (Law)
Defn: The change of a penalty or punishment by the pardoning power of the State; as, the commutation of a sentence of death to banishment or imprisonment. Suits are allowable in the spiritual courts for money agreed to be given as a commutation for penance. Blackstone.
4. A substitution, as of a less thing for a greater, esp. a substitution of one form of payment for another, or one payment for many, or a specific sum of money for conditional payments or allowances; as, commutation of tithes; commutation of fares; commutation of copyright; commutation of rations. Angle of commutation (Astron.), the difference of the geocentric longitudes of the sun and a planet. — Commutation of tithes, the substitution of a regular payment, chargeable to the land, for the annual tithes in kind. — Commutation ticket, a ticket, as for transportation, which is the evidence of a contract for service at a reduced rate. See 2d Commute, 2.
COMMUTATION TICKET
Com`mu*ta"tion tick"et.
Defn: A ticket for transportation at a reduced rate in consideration of some special circumstance, as increase of travel; specif., a ticket for a certain number of, or for daily, trips between neighboring places at a reduced rate, such as are commonly used by those doing business in a city and living in a suburb. Commutation tickets are excepted from the prohibition against special rates contained in the Interstate Commerce Act of Feb. 4, 1887 (24 Stat. 379), and in 145 U. S. 263 it was held that party tickets were also excepted as being "obviously within the commuting principle."
COMMUTATIVE
Com*mut"a*tive, a. Etym: [CF. F. commutatif.]
Defn: Relative to exchange; interchangeable; reciprocal.
— Com*mut"a*tive"ly, adv.
Rich traders, from their success, are presumed . . . to have
cultivated an habitual regard to commutative justice. Burke.