Lat in the civil law. A word having various meanings; e. g., an assembly, society, or company; a body of bishops; an army; a class of men. But the princlpal Idea of the word was that of an assoclatlon of individuals of the same rank and statlon, or united for the pursuit of some business or enterprise. Sometimes, a corporation, as in the maxim “tres faciunt collegium” (1 B1. Comm. 469), though the more usual aud proper designation of a cor-poration was “unlversitas.”
Source: Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
