Dormant commission

A dormant commission is a commission in a Commonwealth realm that lies dormant or sleeping until a particular event triggers it. A commission in this case means an appointment to a particular government office, which the reigning monarch of the nation typically makes, directed to a particular person, giving that person the ability and duty to exercise the powers of that office—or, in other words, 'commissioning' them into a role or an office. Dormant commissions may be structured such that they become effective not at issuance, but rather as from the moment of the occurrence of a stated trigger event (e.g. a state's Governor dies). In this way, vacancies in important offices can be quickly (even prospectively) corrected, and continuity of government can be secured, by a combination of legal contingency planning, backstop/replacement officeholders, and seamless continuation of capacity.