The Collaborative International Dictionary
Court \Court\ (k[=o]rt), n. [OF. court, curt, cort, F. cour, LL. cortis, fr. L. cohors, cors, chors, gen. cohortis, cortis, chortis, an inclosure, court, thing inclosed, crowd, throng; co- + a root akin to Gr. chorto`s inclosure, feeding place, and to E. garden, yard, orchard. See Yard, and cf. Cohort, Curtain.]
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An inclosed space; a courtyard; an uncovered area shut in by the walls of a building, or by different building; also, a space opening from a street and nearly surrounded by houses; a blind alley.
The courts of the house of our God.
--Ps. cxxxv. -
And round the cool green courts there ran a row Of cloisters.
--Tennyson.Goldsmith took a garret in a miserable court.
--Macaulay.2. The residence of a sovereign, prince, nobleman, or other dignitary; a palace.
Attends the emperor in his royal court.
--Shak.This our court, infected with their manners, Shows like a riotous inn.
--Shak. -
The collective body of persons composing the retinue of a sovereign or person high in authority; all the surroundings of a sovereign in his regal state.
My lord, there is a nobleman of the court at door would speak with you.
--Shak.Love rules the court, the camp, the grove.
--Sir. W. Scott. -
Any formal assembling of the retinue of a sovereign; as, to hold a court.
The princesses held their court within the fortress.
--Macaulay. -
Attention directed to a person in power; conduct or address designed to gain favor; courtliness of manners; civility; compliment; flattery.
No solace could her paramour intreat Her once to show, ne court, nor dalliance.
--Spenser.I went to make my court to the Duke and Duchess of Newcastle.
--Evelyn. -
(Law)
The hall, chamber, or place, where justice is administered.
The persons officially assembled under authority of law, at the appropriate time and place, for the administration of justice; an official assembly, legally met together for the transaction of judicial business; a judge or judges sitting for the hearing or trial of causes.
A tribunal established for the administration of justice.
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The judge or judges; as distinguished from the counsel or jury, or both.
Most heartily I do beseech the court To give the judgment.
--Shak.
The session of a judicial assembly.
Any jurisdiction, civil, military, or ecclesiastical.
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A place arranged for playing the game of tennis; also, one of the divisions of a tennis court.
Christian court, the English ecclesiastical courts in the aggregate, or any one of them.
Court breeding, education acquired at court.
Court card. Same as Coat card.
Court circular, one or more paragraphs of news respecting the sovereign and the royal family, together with the proceedings or movements of the court generally, supplied to the newspapers by an officer specially charged with such duty. [Eng.]
--Edwards.Court of claims (Law), a court for settling claims against a state or government; specif., a court of the United States, created by act of Congress, and holding its sessions at Washington. It is given jurisdiction over claims on contracts against the government, and sometimes may advise the government as to its liabilities. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
Court day, a day on which a court sits to administer justice.
Court dress, the dress prescribed for appearance at the court of a sovereign.
Court fool, a buffoon or jester, formerly kept by princes and nobles for their amusement.
Court guide, a directory of the names and adresses of the nobility and gentry in a town.
Court hand, the hand or manner of writing used in records and judicial proceedings.
--Shak.Court lands (Eng. Law), lands kept in demesne, -- that is, for the use of the lord and his family.
Court marshal, one who acts as marshal for a court.
Court party, a party attached to the court.
Court rolls, the records of a court. See Roll.
Court in banc, or Court in bank, The full court sitting at its regular terms for the hearing of arguments upon questions of law, as distinguished from a sitting at nisi prius.
Court of Arches, audience, etc. See under Arches, Audience, etc.
Court of Chancery. See Chancery, n.
Court of Common pleas. (Law) See Common pleas, under Common.
Court of Equity. See under Equity, and Chancery.
Court of Inquiry (Mil.), a court appointed to inquire into and report on some military matter, as the conduct of an officer.
Court of St. James, the usual designation of the British Court; -- so called from the old palace of St. James, which is used for the royal receptions, levees, and drawing-rooms.
The court of the Lord, the temple at Jerusalem; hence, a church, or Christian house of worship.
General Court, the legislature of a State; -- so called from having had, in the colonial days, judicial power; as, the General Court of Massachusetts. [U.S.]
To pay one's court, to seek to gain favor by attentions. ``Alcibiades was assiduous in paying his court to Tissaphernes.''
--Jowett.To put out of court, to refuse further judicial hearing.
WordNet
n. a court with jurisdiction in equity [syn: chancery]
Wikipedia
The Court of Chancery was a court which exercised equitable jurisdiction in Ireland until its abolition as part of the reform of the court system in 1877. It was the court in which the Lord Chancellor of Ireland presided. Its final sitting place was at the Four Courts in Dublin.
The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the administration of the estates of lunatics and the guardianship of infants. Its initial role was somewhat different, however; as an extension of the Lord Chancellor's role as Keeper of the King's Conscience, the Court was an administrative body primarily concerned with conscientious law. Thus the Court of Chancery had a far greater remit than the common law courts, whose decisions it had the jurisdiction to overrule for much of its existence, and was far more flexible. Until the 19th century, the Court of Chancery could apply a far wider range of remedies than the common law courts, such as specific performance and injunctions, and also had some power to grant damages in special circumstances. With the shift of the Exchequer of Pleas towards a common law court and loss of its equitable jurisdiction by the Administration of Justice Act 1841, the Chancery became the only national equitable body in the English legal system.
Academics estimate that the Court of Chancery formally split from and became independent of the curia regis in the mid-14th century, at which time it consisted of the Lord Chancellor and his personal staff, the Chancery. Initially an administrative body with some judicial duties, the Chancery experienced an explosive growth in its work during the 15th century, particularly under the House of York, which academics attribute to its becoming an almost entirely judicial body. From the time of Elizabeth I onwards the Court was severely criticized for its slow pace, large backlogs, and high costs. Those problems persisted until its dissolution, despite being mitigated somewhat by reforms, particularly during the 19th century. Attempts at fusing the Chancery with the common law courts began in the 1850s, and finally succeeded with the 1873 and 1875 Supreme Court of Judicature Acts, which dissolved the Chancery and created a new unified High Court of Justice, with the Chancery Division – one of three divisions of the High Court – succeeding the Court of Chancery as an equitable body.
For much of its existence the Court was formally led by the Lord Chancellor, assisted by the judges of the common law courts. The staff of the court included a large number of clerks, led by the Master of the Rolls, who regularly heard cases on his own. In 1813 a Vice-Chancellor was appointed to deal with the Chancery's increasing backlogs, and two more were appointed in 1841. Offices of the Chancery were sold by the Lord Chancellor for much of its history, raising large amounts of money. Many of the clerks and other officials were sinecures who, in lieu of wages, charged increasingly exorbitant fees to process cases, one of the main reasons why the cost of bringing a case to the Chancery was so high. The 19th century saw the abolition of many sinecure offices and the institution of a wage and pension for the Lord Chancellor to curb the sale of offices, and later the right to appoint officials was transferred from the Chancellor to the Crown.
The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales.
Court of Chancery or Chancery Court may also refer to:
- Chancery Court of York, an ecclesiastical court in England
- Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice, present-day court in England and Wales
- Delaware Court of Chancery
- Mississippi Chancery Courts, part of the Courts of Mississippi
- Tennessee Chancery and Probate Courts, part of the Courts of Tennessee
- New Jersey Chancery Courts, part of the New Jersey Superior Court
Court of Chancery may also refer to the following former civil courts:
- Court of Chancery (Ireland)
- Court of Chancery of the County Palatine of Durham and Sadberge
- Court of Chancery of the County Palatine of Lancaster
- New York Court of Chancery
- Michigan Court of Chancery
Usage examples of "court of chancery".
Going down one day to the Court of Chancery, where he now presided, he was waited upon by the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, who told him that they brought an order to him to resign that office, and to withdraw quietly to a house he had at Esher, in Surrey.
On such an afternoon, some score of members of the High Court of Chancery bar ought to be—.
And at her house in town, upon this muddy, murky afternoon, presents himself an old-fashioned old gentleman, attorney-at-law, and eke [also] solicitor of the High Court of Chancery, who has the honor of acting as legal adviser of the Dedlocks, and has as many cast-iron boxes in his office with that name outside, as if the present baronet were the coin of the conjurer's trick, and were constantly being juggled through the whole set.
Go into the Court of Chancery yonder, and ask what is one of the standing jokes that brighten up their business sometimes, and they will tell you that the best joke they have is the man from Shropshire.