What is "bed of justice"

Justice \Jus"tice\ (j[u^]s"t[i^]s), n. [F., fr. L. justitia, fr. justus just. See Just, a.]

1. The quality of being just; conformity to the principles of righteousness and rectitude in all things; strict performance of moral obligations; practical conformity to human or divine law; integrity in the dealings of men with each other; rectitude; equity; uprightness.

   Justice and judgment are the haditation of thy throne.
   --Ps. ixxxix. 11.

   The king-becoming graces, As justice, verity, temperance, stableness, . . . I have no relish of them.
   --Shak.

2. Conformity to truth and reality in expressing opinions and in conduct; fair representation of facts respecting merit or demerit; honesty; fidelity; impartiality; as, the justice of a description or of a judgment; historical justice.

3. The rendering to every one his due or right; just treatment; requital of desert; merited reward or punishment; that which is due to one's conduct or motives.

   This even-handed justice Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice To our own lips.
   --Shak.

4. Agreeableness to right; equity; justness; as, the justice of a claim.

5. A person duly commissioned to hold courts, or to try and decide controversies and administer justice.

   Note: This title is given to the judges of the common law courts in England and in the United States, and extends to judicial officers and magistrates of every grade.

   Bed of justice. See under Bed.

   Chief justice. See in the Vocabulary.

   Justice of the peace (Law), a judicial officer or subordinate magistrate appointed for the conservation of the peace in a specified district, with other incidental powers specified in his commission. In the United States a justice of the peace has jurisdiction to adjudicate certain minor cases, commit offenders, officiate at marriages, etc.; abbreviated JP.

   Syn: Equity; law; right; rectitude; honesty; integrity; uprightness; fairness; impartiality.

   Usage: Justice, Equity, Law. Justice and equity are the same; but human laws, though designed to secure justice, are of necessity imperfect, and hence what is strictly legal is at times far from being equitable or just. Here a court of equity comes in to redress the grievances. It does so, as distinguished from courts of law; and as the latter are often styled courts of justice, some have fancied that there is in this case a conflict between justice and equity. The real conflict is against the working of the law; this a court of equity brings into accordance with the claims of justice. It would be an unfortunate use of language which should lead any one to imagine he might have justice on his side while practicing iniquity (inequity). Justice, Rectitude. Rectitude, in its widest sense, is one of the most comprehensive words in our language, denoting absolute conformity to the rule of right in principle and practice. Justice refers more especially to the carrying out of law, and has been considered by moralists as of three kinds: (1) Commutative justice, which gives every man his own property, including things pledged by promise. (2) Distributive justice, which gives every man his exact deserts. (3) General justice, which carries out all the ends of law, though not in every case through the precise channels of commutative or distributive justice; as we see often done by a parent or a ruler in his dealings with those who are subject to his control.

Bed \Bed\, n. [AS. bed, bedd; akin to OS. bed, D. bed, bedde, Icel. be?r, Dan. bed, Sw. b["a]dd, Goth. badi, OHG. betti, G. bett, bette, bed, beet a plat of ground; all of uncertain origin.]

1. An article of furniture to sleep or take rest in or on; a couch. Specifically: A sack or mattress, filled with some soft material, in distinction from the bedstead on which it is placed (as, a feather bed), or this with the bedclothes added. In a general sense, any thing or place used for sleeping or reclining on or in, as a quantity of hay, straw, leaves, or twigs.

   And made for him [a horse] a leafy bed.
   --Byron.

   I wash, wring, brew, bake, . . . make the beds.
   --Shak.

   In bed he slept not for my urging it.
   --Shak.

2. (Used as the symbol of matrimony) Marriage.

   George, the eldest son of his second bed.
   --Clarendon.

3. A plat or level piece of ground in a garden, usually a little raised above the adjoining ground. ``Beds of hyacinth and roses.''
   --Milton.

4. A mass or heap of anything arranged like a bed; as, a bed of ashes or coals.

5. The bottom of a watercourse, or of any body of water; as, the bed of a river.

   So sinks the daystar in the ocean bed.
   --Milton.

6. (Geol.) A layer or seam, or a horizontal stratum between layers; as, a bed of coal, iron, etc.

7. (Gun.) See Gun carriage, and Mortar bed.

8. (Masonry)

   1. The horizontal surface of a building stone; as, the upper and lower beds.

   2. A course of stone or brick in a wall.

   3. The place or material in which a block or brick is laid.

   4. The lower surface of a brick, slate, or tile.
      --Knight.

9. (Mech.) The foundation or the more solid and fixed part or framing of a machine; or a part on which something is laid or supported; as, the bed of an engine.

10. The superficial earthwork, or ballast, of a railroad.

11. (Printing) The flat part of the press, on which the form is laid.

    Note: Bed is much used adjectively or in combination; as, bed key or bedkey; bed wrench or bedwrench; bedchamber; bedmaker, etc.

    Bed of justice (French Hist.), the throne (F. lit bed) occupied by the king when sitting in one of his parliaments (judicial courts); hence, a session of a refractory parliament, at which the king was present for the purpose of causing his decrees to be registered.

    To be brought to bed, to be delivered of a child; -- often followed by of; as, to be brought to bed of a son.

    To make a bed, to prepare a bed; to arrange or put in order a bed and its bedding.

    From bed and board (Law), a phrase applied to a separation by partial divorce of man and wife, without dissolving the bonds of matrimony. If such a divorce (now commonly called a judicial separation) be granted at the instance of the wife, she may have alimony.

n. (context French history English) A lit de justice.