COMMUTATION

In cTiminal law. Change; substitution. The substitution of one punishment for another, after conviction of the party subject to it. The change of a punishment from a greater to a le ; as from hanging to imprisonment. Commutation of a punishment is not a conditional pardon, but the substitution of a lower for a higher grade of punishment, and is pt-esumed to be for the culprit's benefit. In re Victor, 31 Ohio St. 207; Ex parte Janes, 1 Nev. 321; Rich v. Chamberlain, 107 Mich. 381, 65 N. W. 235... In civil matters. The conversion of the right to receive a variable or periodical payment into the right to receive a fixed or gro payment. Commutation may be efl'ected by private agreement, but it is usually done under a statute. -Commutation of taxes, Payment of a designated lump sum {permanent or annual) for the privile~ of exemption from taxes, or the ·settlement m advance of a specific sum in lieu of an ad valorem tax. Cotton Mfg. Co. v. New Orleans, 31 La. Ann.. 440.-Commutation of tithes. Signifies the conversion of tithes into a fixed payment in money.-Commutation ticket. A railroad ticket giving the holder the right to travel at a certain rate for ~ limited number of trips (or for an unlimited number within a certain period of time) for a le amount than would be paid in the aggregate for so many separate trips. Interstate Commerce Com'n v. Baltimore & 0. R. Co. (C. C.) 43· Fed. 56. COMMUTATIVE CONTRACT, See CONTRACT• [s. 236]