In old English law . A manor or chief messuage with lands and tenements thereto appertaining, which belonged to the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, in England; he who had the government of such a manor or house was styled the “com- COMMANDITAIRES 220 COMMERCE inander,” who could not dispose of it, but to the use of the priory, only taking thence his own sustenance, according to his degree. The manors and lands belonging to the priory of St. John of Jerusalem were given to Henry the Eighth by 32 lien. VIII. c. 20, about the time of the dissolution of abbeys and monasteries; so that the name only of c ominauderies remains, the power being long