composition fee
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Originally from an obsolete sense of composition, “payment to settle an obligation”, from Medieval Latin compositiō (“payment made in amends or settlement”), see citations; compare legal sense of compound, “settle with a smaller payment than the claim”. Later reanalysed in some cases as meaning “aggregate”.
Noun
[edit]composition fee (plural composition fees)
- (chiefly law) A payment of amends or to acquire a certain privilege, (universities) a tuition fee.
- 1845, Erasmus Wilson, The History of the Middlesex Hospital during the First Century of its Existence, page 4:
- The subscribers of three guineas per annum were to be called governors, and were permitted to pay a composition fee of twenty guineas to obtain the privilege of life governor.
- 1974, Thean Soo Lim, Sukumaran Nair, S. Mohd Razak, The Impact of Customs, Republic of Singapore, page 38:
- The maximum composition fee for an offence was raised from six hundred to a thousand dollars.
- 2009, Statutes and Ordinances of the University of Cambridge, →ISBN, page 159:
- Payment of a University Composition Fee under these regulations shall entitle a matriculated student without additional fee ¶ (a) to attend any course within the University which is listed in the table of fees attached to these regulations […]