Commissioner
A commissioner is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission.
In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to include a variety of senior officials, often sitting on a specific commission. In particular, the commissioner frequently refers to senior police or government officials. A high commissioner is equivalent to an ambassador, originally between the United Kingdom and the Dominions and now between all Commonwealth states, whether Commonwealth realms, republics or countries having a monarch other than that of the realms. The title is sometimes given to senior officials in the private sector; for instance, many North American sports leagues.
There is some confusion between commissioners and commissaries because other European languages use the same word for both. Therefore titles such as commissaire in French, Kommissar in German and comisario in Spanish or commissario in Italian, can mean either commissioner or commissary in English, depending on the context.
Domestic public official
A commissioner within a modern state generally holds his or her office by a commission from the head of state or a council of elected representatives.Canadian territories
Commissioners are the formal heads of the territories in Canada. Unlike the governor general or a lieutenant governor, commissioners are not viceregal representatives of the Canadian monarch; rather, they are delegates of the federal Crown-in-Council and, under federal statutes governing the territories, act following written instructions from Cabinet or the minister responsible. While commissioners formerly had a direct day-to-day role in administration and government and chaired the territory's executive council, today they are under instruction to act more like provincial lieutenant governors, as territorial assemblies have taken on more responsibility. Commissioners thus perform ceremonial duties similar to those of the monarch and viceroys, including reading the speech from the throne at the opening of the territorial legislature and presenting commendations to Canadian Forces members for long-term or outstanding service to the office. Possible candidates for the position are selected by the Advisory Committee on Vice-Regal Appointments. The official appointment is made by the Governor General-in-Council.Current Canadian commissioners
Imperial China
Senior public servants, commissioners and other high-ranking bureaucrats referred to collectively as ''mandarins.''Isle of Man
In the local government system of the Isle of Man, a commissioner is an elected representative equivalent to a councillor. All town, village, district and parish local government bodies consist of commissioners, except for Douglas, which has a council and councillors.Malawi
's position of district commissioner refers to the person that is appointed by the president of Malawi to oversee the administration of any of its 28 districts. One commissioner is appointed per district. The position was created during the British colonial era, sustained during the Kamuzu Banda era and continues as a prominent position in democratic era in Malawi.Scotland
Prior to the Acts of Union 1707, an elected member of the Estates of Scotland held the office of commissioner, representing a constituency. There were burgh commissioners and shire or stewartry commissioners.United States
Current
In many U.S. states, the legislative and executive decision-making bodies of counties are called the board of commissioners or county commission.In Minnesota, Alaska,New Hampshire, New York, Texas and Tennessee, the heads of some statewide departments are called "commissioners".
In California, court commissioners are subordinate judicial officers granted many of the same authorities as judges, though not all.
In some states certain municipalities may have a planning or zoning authority composed of local officials or members of the public. These authorities can be called commissions with the members addressed as "commissioners".
Historic
In the past, the U.S. government-appointed special commissioners for a variety of tasks. For example, the head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1862 to 1889 was a commissioner, not a Cabinet secretary.The Board of Navy Commissioners, a three-member United States Navy administrative body responsible for the navy's material support, existed from 1815 to 1842.
Until 1968, federal courts appointed commissioners to perform routine judicial duties such as taking testimony, taking bail, and even enforcing laws such as the Fugitive Slave Act. These commissioners were replaced by United States magistrates.
General
Police
In police services in the Commonwealth of Nations and the United States, the title of commissioner typically designates the head of an entire police force.In other countries, such as Latin American countries, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Italy, etc., a commissioner is typically the commander of a major police station or a locally/regionally important police service. The equivalent ranks in the police forces of the United States and the United Kingdom are respectively captain and superintendent.
Other emergency services
In firefighting services in the Commonwealth of Nations, the title of commissioner typically designates the head of an entire fire service in a particular jurisdiction, such as the commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service or the commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW, two separate fire authorities that operate within the Australian state of New South Wales.International public and colonial context
British and Commonwealth overseas possessions
The title of commissioner or district commissioner, as such, was used by the chief British official in:- British India, now composed of four independent countries, where the divisional commissioner was the head of one of the few divisions of a province and was higher than a deputy commissioner and lower than a secretary in the provincial capital.
- British Central Africa
- Territories of Zambesia and Rhodesia, administered under charter by the British South Africa Company
- The Oil Rivers Protectorate, from 3 August 1891 till 1 January 1900 when it became the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, hence under a high commissioner
- The Caribbean Turks and Caicos Islands, 1874 – 4 July 1959, as a dependency under the governor of Jamaica colony
- The Weihaiwei concession territory from 1902 to 1938
- Kamaran Island, in June 1915 taken from the Ottoman Empire and subordinated to the Aden Settlement, but not incorporated, till on 30 November 1967 it became part of the newly independent People's Republic of South Yemen.
- The UN trust territory of British Cameroons, only two incumbents, from 1 October 1954 to 1 October 1961 when Southern British Cameroons was incorporated into the independent Republic of Cameroon, after the northern part united with Nigeria on 1 June 1961.
- Hong Kong, before the handover to the People's Republic of China in 1997, after which they became known as consuls-general.
- Singapore, prior to independence in 1965, after which they became known as high commissioners.
Canada
European Union
The European commissioners are the members of the European Commission, the cabinet of the European Union. Commissioners’ role closely resembles that of the ministers of the Union’s member states; each is assigned a portfolio under the authority of the president of the EU Commission, but they make important decisions collegially, often subject to approval by the European Parliament and/or the Council of the European Union, the two organs of the EU’s bicameral legislature.French colonies
The French equivalent, commissaire, was used for various officials employed at different levels of the colonial administration in several French-ruled countries.Russian Empire
After on 17 April 1914 Tannu Tuva was declared a Russian 'protected' area, two subsequent Russian commissioners for the affairs of Urjanhai Kray were appointed, alongside the last native tribal paramount chief, followed by a single commissar of the provisional governmentuntil czarist rule collapsed for good, giving way to the Soviet regime
United Nations administration
A UN commissioner appointed in 1949 supervised the transition of the UN Trust territory of Libya to independence as a united monarchy in 1951.United States
From the mid-19th century until 1939, two U.S. government cabinet departments used the title "commissioner" for officials posted abroad who did not enjoy diplomatic status. U.S. federal agencies have not titled officials posted abroad as commissioners since 1939.U.S. Department of Agriculture
During the 19th century, the U.S. Department of Agriculture began sending employees, called "agricultural commissioners", abroad to investigate foreign agriculture. These appointments were of a roving nature, as the officials were not assigned to a particular country or city. In 1919 USDA posted to London an agricultural commissioner without diplomatic status, Edward Foley, to report on British agriculture. Additional commissioners were posted through the 1920s to Buenos Aires, Berlin, and Shanghai. The title began to be phased out in 1930 with the passage of the Foreign Agricultural Service Act, which granted USDA authority to use the diplomatic title "attaché". The last USDA employee to bear the title "agricultural commissioner" was Owen Dawson, agricultural commissioner at the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai, who received diplomatic status and the title agricultural attaché in 1939 when USDA's overseas officers were transferred to the Department of State.Noted American author Mark Twain recounted meeting one of the 19th-century roving agricultural commissioners in Innocents Abroad:
I was proud to observe that among our excursionists were three ministers of the gospel, eight doctors, sixteen or eighteen ladies, several military and naval chieftains with sounding titles, an ample crop of "Professors" of various kinds, and a gentleman who had "COMMISSIONER OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO EUROPE, ASIA, AND AFRICA" thundering after his name in one awful blast! I had carefully prepared myself to take rather a back seat in that ship because of the uncommonly select material that would alone be permitted to pass through the camel's eye of that committee on credentials; I had schooled myself to expect an imposing array of military and naval heroes and to have to set that back seat still further back in consequence of it may be, but I state frankly that I was all unprepared for this crusher.
I fell under that titular avalanche a torn and blighted thing. I said that if that potentate must go over in our ship, why, I supposed he must – but that to my thinking, when the United States considered it necessary to send a dignitary of that tonnage across the ocean, it would be in better taste, and safer, to take him apart and cart him over in sections in several ships.
Ah, if I had only known then that he was only a common mortal, and that his mission had nothing more overpowering about it than the collecting of seeds and uncommon yams and extraordinary cabbages and peculiar bullfrogs for that poor, useless, innocent, mildewed old fossil the Smithsonian Institute , I would have felt so much relieved.