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.
Wikipedia
A Court of Common Pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas in England, which was created to permit individual to press civil grievances against one another without involving the King.
The Court of Common Pleas was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror image of the equivalent court in England. It was one of the four courts of justice that gave the Four Courts building in Dublin its name.
The Court of Common Pleas, or Common Bench, was a common law court in the English legal system that covered "common pleas"; actions between subject and subject, which did not concern the king. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century after splitting from the Exchequer of Pleas, the Common Pleas served as one of the central English courts for around 600 years. Authorised by Magna Carta to sit in a fixed location, the Common Pleas sat in Westminster Hall for its entire existence, joined by the Exchequer of Pleas and Court of King's Bench.
The court's jurisdiction was gradually undercut by the King's Bench and Exchequer of Pleas with legal fictions, the Bill of Middlesex and Writ of Quominus respectively. The Common Pleas maintained its exclusive jurisdiction over matters of real property until its dissolution, and due to its wide remit was considered by Sir Edward Coke to be the "lock and key of the common law". It was staffed by one Chief Justice and a varying number of puisne justices, who were required to be Serjeants-at-Law, and until the mid 19th century only Serjeants were allowed to plead there.
As one of the two principal common law courts with the King's Bench, the Common Pleas fought to maintain its jurisdiction and caseload, in a way that during the 16th and 17th centuries was categorised as conservative and reactionary. Reaching an acceptable medium with the King's Bench and Exchequer of Pleas proved to be the downfall of all three courts; with several courts of near-identical jurisdiction, there was little need for separate bodies, and the superior courts of Westminster were merged by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 into a single High Court of Justice. With an Order in Council issued on 16 December 1880, the Common Pleas Division of the High Court ceased to exist, marking the end of the Court of Common Pleas.
Usage examples of "court of common pleas".
And the result of the consultation was, that a complaint and warrant for arson should be issued, and the arrest made by the sheriff, who should also have in his hands a civil process returnable to the court of Common Pleas, to serve on Gurley and his property, provided the proof elicited at the court of inquiry on the criminal charge should be such as to afford them any prospect of a recovery.
I am told that he is now clerk of the court of common pleas at Cincinnati after a career which took him from the governorship of Indiana to the United States Senate.
A proceeding having been instituted in the Court of Common Pleas for the recovery of certain manorial rights in the county of Kent, the defendant offered to prove by single combat his right to retain possession.
The cause was fixed for trial in the Court of Common Pleas, on the 5th of December, before Lord Chief-Justice Mansfield.
He is said to be the town clerk, a justice of the peace, mayor of the city of New Haven, an office held at the will of the legislature, chief judge of the court of common pleas for New Haven county, a court of high criminal and civil jurisdiction wherein most causes are decided without the right of appeal or review, and sole judge of the court of probates, wherein he singly decides all questions of wills, settlement of estates, testate and intestate, appoints guardians, settles their accounts, and in fact has under his jurisdiction and care all the property real and personal of persons dying.