Commission of rebellion

Rebellion \Re*bel"lion\ (r[-e]*b[e^]l"y[u^]n), n. [F.
   r['e]bellion, L. rebellio. See {Rebel}, v. i. Among the
   Romans rebellion was originally a revolt or open resistance
   to their government by nations that had been subdued in war.
   It was a renewed war.]
   1. The act of rebelling; open and avowed renunciation of the
      authority of the government to which one owes obedience,
      and resistance to its officers and laws, either by levying
      war, or by aiding others to do so; an organized uprising
      of subjects for the purpose of coercing or overthrowing
      their lawful ruler or government by force; revolt;
      insurrection.
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            No sooner is the standard of rebellion displayed
            than men of desperate principles resort to it.
                                                  --Ames.
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   2. Open resistance to, or defiance of, lawful authority.
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   {Commission of rebellion} (Eng. Law), a process of contempt
      issued on the nonappearance of a defendant, -- now
      abolished. --Wharton. --Burrill.
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   Syn: Insurrection; sedition; revolt; mutiny; resistance;
        contumacy. See {Insurrection}.
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COMMISSION OF REBELLION, chan. prac. The name of a writ issuing out of 
chancery, generally directed to four special commissioners, named by the 
plaintiff, commanding them to attach the defendant wheresoever he may be 
found within the state, as a rebel and contemner of the law, so as to have 
him in chancery on a certain day therein named. This writ may be issued 
after an attachment with proclamation, and a return of non est inventus. 
Blake's Ch. Pr. 102; Newl. Ch. Pr. 14.