What is "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.

   No sooner is the standard of rebellion displayed than men of desperate principles resort to it.
   --Ames.

2. Open resistance to, or defiance of, lawful authority.

   Commission of rebellion (Eng. Law), a process of contempt issued on the nonappearance of a defendant, -- now abolished.
   --Wharton.
   --Burrill.

   Syn: Insurrection; sedition; revolt; mutiny; resistance; contumacy. See Insurrection.

In old English law, a commission of rebellion, or writ of rebellion, was a process of contempt on the nonappearance of a defendant. It was issued out when a man, after proclamation issued out of the chancery, or the exchequer, and made by the sheriff, to present himself, under pain of his allegiance, to the court by a certain day, does not appear.