CONTRIBUTOKY NEGLIGENCE. 354 CONVENTION. CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE. See ISEliLKitNCE. CONTRITION (Lat. contritio, grief, from contertre, to bruise, from com-, together + tercrc, to rub). Sorrow for sin. As a term of Roman Catholic theology, it signifies "a sorrow of mind and a detestation for sin committed, with the jnirpose of not sinning for the future." A smaller degree of sorrow, arising from "the considera- tion of tlie turpitude of sin, or from the fear of hell and of punisluueut," is called attrition. CONTROLLER (variant of comptroller, which see for etymology). On shipboard, a con- trivance for liolding the anchor-chain and keep- ing it from running out while getting up anchor or mooring. It is made in two parts, one of which slides vertically. When this part is up the chain slips freely over the Jaws of the con- troller; when the movable part is lowered the chain drops in a slot, where it is caught and held. For further security, the controller usu- ally has an arch-shajied iron strap above it; this keeps the chain in place and has sockets for a heavy bar which holds the chain down against the jaws. CON'ULA'RIA (Xeo-Lat. nom. pi., from Lat. conns, cone). A genus of fossil Pteropoda of curious form found abundantly in some Paleo- 7oic rocks, and rarely in Permian and Triassie beds. The shell, when perfectly preserved, has the form of an elongated quadrangular pyramid of which the sides are flattened and the edges sharp. In size they vary from one-half to ten inches in length. The surface is ornamented by numerous transverse ridges, and the interior is divided by septa in the apical portion. The aperture is closed by four in-curved lobes, which are extensions of the sides of the pyramid. Cer- tain forms in the Utica slate of New York State, originally described as alga;, have been showTi to be sessile Conularia, in which the young re- main attached to the parent shell to form a col- ony with the appearance of a brandling seaweed. Consult: Ulrieh, Beitriige ^ur Ocologie und Paliiontologie von Siidamerika, I. Paldozoische Versteinerungen aus BoUcien (Stuttgart. 1892) ; Eucdemann, "Notes on the Discovery of a Ses- sile Conularia," American Geologist, vol. xvii. (Slinneapnlis, 1800). See also Pteropoda. CONUNDRUM (probably a pseudo-Latin word; hardly from Lat. conandum, tiling to be attempted, from conari, to attempt). A pun in the interrogative form, a kind of riddle (q.v.) involving the discovery of some odd or absurd resemblance between things utterly dissiniilai', or of some odd difl'erence between similar things. The conundrum is usually in the form of a ques- tion, the answer to which either is or involves a pun. A good example is the following: Q. When is it easiest to read ? A. In the autumn, when Nature turns the leaves. The conundrum has almost entirely supplanted the riddle, save in folklore and savage life. CON'VALLA'RIA. Sec Lilv-of-the-Vallet. CONVECTION OF HEAT, CokT5Ction CtJK- EENTS. See Heat. Expansion. CONVENTICLE (Lat. conventicuhun, dim. of convent ns, assembly, from convenire, to as- semble, from com-, together + venire, to come). ( 1 ) The private religious meetings in the early Church. I^ater (2) a cabal among the monks of a monastery formed to secure the election of a favorite as abbot; the word consequently fell into disrepute. (3) It was given as an appella- tion of reproach to the assemblies of ^^"iclif's followers, and was afterwards applied (4) to the meetings of English and Scottish Nonconform- ists. In this connection the legal term devel- oped. The Conventicle Act of 1804 made all assemblies for religious purposes, other than those of the Church of England, illegal, per- mitted houses to be searched for suspected con- venticles, and imposed the penalty of transporta- tion for repeated offenses. CONVENTION (Fr., from Lat. conventio, a coming together, a meeting, from convenire, to meet, from com-, together + venire, to come). In the ci'il law, a contract, pact, or treaty. Hence, in more general usage, a rule of conduct de])ending ujion agreement, express or implied, rather than on any positive rule of law. Thus, we speak of the conventions of a constitution, meaning those parts of it which are the result of custom and of general agi-eement, as distin- guished from the law of the constitution, which is embodied in statutes or in Judicial decisions. The term is also employed in a technical sense, in the language of diplomacy, and in military affairs, with the signification of treaty or agree- ment respecting the conduct of military opera- tions or the relations of the contracting parties to one another. In the political sense, the term 'convention' signifies an extraordinary assemblage of dele- gates, representing the people of a State or the members of a political party, for other purposes than the regular functions of government. Thus, a regular legislative body is not a convention, though the t«rm is sometimes applied to the Joint meetings of the two Houses of a State Legislature when convened for tlie formal elec- tion of a United States Senator. The two Houses of Parliament constitute a convention, whether acting Jointly or severally, if assembled without authority of law. This was the character of the two 'convention Parliaments.' as they were called, which met in lOOO to restore Charles II. to the throne, and in 1089 to alter the succession from the House of Stuart to William and llary. In both of these cases the illegal and revolution- ary acts performed were afterwards validated and confirmed by regular acts of Parliament. Of a similar character was the convention by which the first French Repidjlic was declared in 1792, and under which the Revolution was car- ried on till the establishment of the Directory in 1795. CoxsTiTUTiOJJAi, Conventions. The fact that conventions may be made up of delegates repre- t.enting the whole body of the people of a State, and chosen specifically to represent the popular will in a particular matter, has made them a favorite instrument for framing a new scheme of government or for amending an old one. The convention is thus a more immediate representa- tive of the people, with a higher and more im- perative mandate than the legislature. There has been only one national constitutional con- vention in the United States — that which framed the Constitution ; but the high character of this assemblage, the patriotic spirit and wisdom which animated it. and the astonishing success which has attended its labors, have made it the immortal type of sUch gatherings. In the Unit-
