1555 R. Eden in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde Pref. sig. aij Appoynted a commissionarie in thaffayres of India.

1598 in J. Spottiswood Hist. Church Scotl. (1677) vi. 454 The Office of Commissionary.

1621 D. Lindsay True Narration Proc. Gen. Assembly Church Scotl. 19 To elect and choose the most wise, learned and peaceable Ministers in their bounds, to be Commissionaries at the said Assembly.

1652 tr. Declar. States Gen. United Netherland Provinces (title) The Treaty with the Extraordinary Embassadors, and The Commissionaries of the present Government of England.

1718 J.-A. Dubourdieu Appeal Eng. Nation 163 The sincere Resolution to deliver them to the Honourables [sic] Commissionaries Hands.

1795 T. Tyrwhitt Life Chaucer in Canterbury Tales of Chaucer I. 25 Commissionaries were sent over to expostulate that matter before the Pope's legates.

1823 in Niles' Weekly Reg. (1824) 21 Feb. 398/2 Any contravention against this circular, you have to declare to the commissionary of the government.

1883 Criminal Law Mag. Mar. 159 After waiting in the station-master's room till the Prussian police commissionary arrived, he was taken to Brussels.

1907 New Catholic World Mar. 820 The Commissionaries searched the house in vain, and finding no priest withdrew.

1977 M. V. Creveld Supplying War ii. 52 He and the divisional commissionaries were to inform local authorities of the number of men and horses to be fed.

2001 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 13 Oct. Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, has appointed the Venerable C T Pringle, Archdeacon of Clogher, to be his Commissionary for the Diocese.

1918 Proc. Brest-Litovsk Peace Conf. 93 The setting up of States within the former Russian Imperial Empire recognized by the Government of the People's Commissionaries, such, for instance, as the Ukraine and Finland, were brought about..by mean of resolutions by a national assembly.

1918 Amer. Jewish Chron. 16 Aug. 357/2 Petrograd Commissionary over Jewish Affairs issued an order to all the banks not to honor checks of the various Jewish institutions and organizations, unless they are countersigned by him.

1935 Jefferson City (Missouri) Post-Tribune 28 Mar. 2/4 Antony Eden, lord privy seal of Great Britain, and Maxim Litvinoff, foreign commissionary of Soviet Russia, ‘got right down to business’.

2002 S. Lalonde Determining Boundaries in Conflicted World iii. 66 On 31 December 1917, the Soviet of Commissionaries of the People of Petrograd proposed to the Executive Central Committee that the political independence of the Republic of Finland should be recognized.

1956 Proc. Pakistan Hist. Conf. 6 255 Considerable parts of Bahawalpur Commissionary..are under-developed and backward.

1957 Bull. Prince of Wales Mus. of Western India 5 33 To the north of the present commissionary of Udaipur lie Ajmer-Merwara and Shahpura.

1995 S. S. Gupta in J. C. Aggarwal & S. P. Agrawal Uttarakhand i. 13 This hilly area has only eight districts, divided into two commissionaries.

2014 United News of India (Nexis) 5 Sept. On September 14 deliberations will be held with representatives of North and South Chottanagpur commissionaries.

a1600 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie (1648) viii. sig. Ee^v Our Judges in causes Ecclesiasticall, are either Ordinary or Commissionary.

1627 R. Phipps in J. Rushworth Hist. Coll. (1659) 503 Commissionary Lieutenants do deprive us of all Liberty.

1649 Bp. J. Hall Resol. & Decisions iii. ix. 341 That delegate, or commissionary authority, which is by Christ entrusted with them.

1722 E. Calamy 13 Serm. iii. 86 For why should a Commissionary Power be retain'd any longer, when the End for which it was communicated is fully answer'd?

1797 Brit. Critic Oct. 356 Nor opposing the Privy Council exercising commissionary appellant judicature under a less solemn delegation of royal authority.

1838 G. Jackson & F. Grigg Let. 21 May in Corr. Brit. Commissioners relating to Slave Trade (1839) 139 Her Majesty's Commissionary Judge received a letter..stating the particulars of the detention of two slave vessels.

1855 Jrnl. of Council of Kansas 21 It requires him to declare the person or persons having the highest number of legal voters to be duly elected, and confines his commissionary power to members thus elected.

1915 Mag. Hist. Jan. 179 Andrew was a commissionary agent in the army.

1997 T. Schweisfurth in Human Rights & functioning of Democratic Institutions in Emergency Situations 39 The Reichs-President could exercise a commissionary dictatorship giving him the right to take measures necessary to restore public security.