Legal Definitions - commorant

A commorant is a person who dwells or resides in a particular place. The specific duration of this dwelling can vary depending on the context, leading to two primary interpretations:

• Temporary Dweller: In its more general usage, a commorant is someone who stays in a place for a limited period, not intending to establish a permanent home there.
• Permanent Resident (English Law): Historically, particularly in English law, the term has been used to describe a person who resides permanently in a specific location, often implying a settled inhabitant with certain local responsibilities.

Here are some examples to illustrate the use of "commorant":

• Imagine a university professor who takes a sabbatical and accepts a visiting scholar position at a foreign institution for one academic year. During this time, they rent an apartment near the campus, but their primary residence and family remain in their home country. The professor is a commorant in the foreign city, as their dwelling there is for a defined, temporary period related to their academic work.

• Consider a construction worker who travels to various sites across the country for projects lasting several months each. For the duration of each project, they live in temporary housing provided by their company. While at a specific project site, the worker is a commorant of that locality, as their stay is transient and tied to the project's completion, not a permanent relocation.

• In the historical context of English law, if a family had continuously lived in a particular parish for generations, owned land, and were expected to contribute to local taxes and community services, they would be considered commorants of that parish. This usage signifies their established, permanent residency within that specific geographical area, often with associated civic duties and rights.