: the informal and voluntary recognition by courts of one jurisdiction of the laws and judicial decisions of another
2
: avoidance of proselytizing members of another religious denomination
Did you know?
"Our country soweth also in the field of our breasts many precious seeds, as … honest behavior, affability, comity," wrote English clergyman Thomas Becon in 1543. Becon's use is an early documented appearance of comity—a word derived from Latin cōmitās, meaning "friendliness, courtesy, or graciousness." Comity is largely used in political and judicial contexts. Since 1804, comity of nations has referred to countries bound by a courteous relationship based on mutual recognition of executive, legislative, and judicial acts. And, in legal contexts, comity refers to the recognition by courts of one jurisdiction of the laws and judicial decisions of another.
the comity that has always existed among the town's houses of worship
Recent Examples on the WebIn an era when bipartisan comity is rare on Capitol Hill, agreement between the two sides is a very big deal. Kris Brown, CNN, 14 June 2022 The biggest danger from Rogozin’s latest threat is not to the station itself, but to the international comity that has kept the giant outpost flying for the past 24 years. Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 6 May 2022 The Congressional Baseball Game has long been trumpeted as an annual ritual of bipartisan comity. Hau Chu, Washington Post, 6 July 2022 The moment of comity with teachers didn’t last, though. Dexter Filkins, The New Yorker, 20 June 2022 Most participants in the 5G process say comity and cooperation has increased among all parties. Peter Elkind, ProPublica, 26 May 2022 Right now, just when people could use emblems of patience, grit, calm and comity, the culture has endured a steady stream of loss that adds to the sense that everything is crumbling to bits.Washington Post, 29 Dec. 2021 Right, forget all those niceties about decorum and comity and Robert’s Rules of Order. Clarence Page, chicagotribune.com, 14 May 2021 Sometimes the maintenance of civic comity requires a touch of restraint. Damon Linker, The Week, 13 May 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from Latin cōmitāt-, cōmitās "friendliness, courtesy, graciousness," from cōmis "kind, obliging, gracious" (probably going back to Old Latin cosmis, of uncertain origin) + -itāt- -itās-ity
Note: The Latin word cōmis (Old Latin cosmis, assuming that this word in the Duenos Inscription has been correctly identified) has traditionally been analyzed as *co-smei̯- "draw one's face into a smile," with the Indo-European base *smei̯- "laugh, smile" (see smile entry 1)—though a derivational mechanism for turning such a verbal compound into an unsuffixed adjective is left unspecified. An alternative explanation as a denominal adjective "having/accompanied by a smile" is possible (of the compound type represented by Greek éntheos "full of/possessed by a deity"), though there is no Indo-European evidence for a corresponding noun *smi- "smile."