What is "civil list"

List \List\, n. [AS. l[=i]st a list of cloth; akin to D. lijst, G. leiste, OHG. l[=i]sta, Icel. lista, listi, Sw. list, Dan. liste. In sense 5 from F. liste, of German origin, and thus ultimately the same word.]

1. A strip forming the woven border or selvedge of cloth, particularly of broadcloth, and serving to strengthen it; hence, a strip of cloth; a fillet. ``Gartered with a red and blue list.''
   --Shak.

2. A limit or boundary; a border.

   The very list, the very utmost bound, Of all our fortunes.
   --Shak.

3. The lobe of the ear; the ear itself. [Obs.]
   --Chaucer.

4. A stripe. [Obs.]
   --Sir T. Browne.

5. A roll or catalogue, that is, row or line; a record of names; as, a list of names, books, articles; a list of ratable estate.

   He was the ablest emperor of all the list.
   --Bacon.

6. (Arch.) A little square molding; a fillet; -- called also listel.

7. (Carp.) A narrow strip of wood, esp. sapwood, cut from the edge of a plank or board.

8. (Rope Making) A piece of woolen cloth with which the yarns are grasped by a workman.

9. (Tin-plate Manuf.)

   1. The first thin coat of tin.

   2. A wirelike rim of tin left on an edge of the plate after it is coated. Civil list (Great Britain & U.S.), the civil officers of government, as judges, ambassadors, secretaries, etc. Hence, the revenues or appropriations of public money for the support of the civil officers. More recently, the civil list, in England, embraces only the expenses of the reigning monarch's household. Free list.

      1. A list of articles admitted to a country free of duty.

      2. A list of persons admitted to any entertainment, as a theater or opera, without payment, or to whom a periodical, or the like, is furnished without cost.

         Syn: Roll; catalogue; register; inventory; schedule.

         Usage: List, Roll, Catalogue, Register, Inventory, Schedule. A list is properly a simple series of names, etc., in a brief form, such as might naturally be entered in a narrow strip of paper. A roll was originally a list containing the names of persons belonging to a public body (as Parliament, etc.), which was rolled up and laid aside among its archives. A catalogue is a list of persons or things arranged in order, and usually containing some description of the same, more or less extended. A register is designed for record or preservation. An inventory is a list of articles, found on hand in a store of goods, or in the estate of a deceased person, or under similar circumstances. A schedule is a formal list or inventory prepared for legal or business purposes.

Civil \Civ"il\, a. [L. civilis, fr. civis citizen: cf. F. civil. See City.]

1. Pertaining to a city or state, or to a citizen in his relations to his fellow citizens or to the state; within the city or state.

2. Subject to government; reduced to order; civilized; not barbarous; -- said of the community.

   England was very rude and barbarous; for it is but even the other day since England grew civil.
   --Spenser.

3. Performing the duties of a citizen; obedient to government; -- said of an individual.

   Civil men come nearer the saints of God than others; they come within a step or two of heaven.
   --Preston

4. Having the manners of one dwelling in a city, as opposed to those of savages or rustics; polite; courteous; complaisant; affable.

   Note: ``A civil man now is one observant of slight external courtesies in the mutual intercourse between man and man; a civil man once was one who fulfilled all the duties and obligations flowing from his position as a 'civis' and his relations to the other members of that 'civitas.'''
   --Trench

5. Pertaining to civic life and affairs, in distinction from military, ecclesiastical, or official state.

6. Relating to rights and remedies sought by action or suit distinct from criminal proceedings.

   Civil action, an action to enforce the rights or redress the wrongs of an individual, not involving a criminal proceeding.

   Civil architecture, the architecture which is employed in constructing buildings for the purposes of civil life, in distinction from military and naval architecture, as private houses, palaces, churches, etc.

   Civil death. (Law.) See under Death.

   Civil engineering. See under Engineering.

   Civil law. See under Law.

   Civil list. See under List.

   Civil remedy (Law), that given to a person injured, by action, as opposed to a criminal prosecution.

   Civil service, all service rendered to and paid for by the state or nation other than that pertaining to naval or military affairs.

   Civil service reform, the substitution of business principles and methods for the spoils system in the conduct of the civil service, esp. in the matter of appointments to office.

   Civil state, the whole body of the laity or citizens not included under the military, maritime, and ecclesiastical states.

   Civil suit. Same as Civil action.

   Civil war. See under War.

   Civil year. See under Year.

A civil list is a list of individuals to whom money is paid by the government. It is a term especially associated with the United Kingdom and its former colonies of Canada and New Zealand. It was originally defined as expenses supporting the monarch. Morocco has a civil list defined in its constitution of 1996.