COURT, an appendage to a house or habitation, consisting of a piece of ground inclosed with walls, but open above.

Court is also used for the palace or place where a king or sovereign prince resides.

Court, in a legal sense, is defined a place in which justice is judicially administered. And as by our constitution the sole executive powćr of the laws is vested in the person of the king, it follows that all courts of justice, which are the medium by which he administers the laws, are derived from the power of the crown. For whether created by act of parliament or by letters patent, or subsisting by prescription (the only methods by which any court of judicature can exist), the king’s consent in the two former is expressly, and in the latter impliedly given. In all these courts the king is supposed, in contemplation of law, to be always present; but as that is in fact impossible, he is there represented by his judges, whose power is only an emanation of the royal prerogative.

For the more speedy, universal, and impartial administration of justice between subject and subject, the law has appointed a variety of courts, some with a more limited, others with a more extensive jurisdiction; some constituted to inquire only, others to hear and determine; some to determine in the first instance, others upon appeal and by way of review.

Court of Arches ( Curia de Arcubus), the chief and most ancient consistory court belonging to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury, for the debating of spiritual causes. It is so called from the church of St Mary le Bow (de arcubus), where it was formerly held. The judge of this court, styled the Dean of the Arches, or the Official of the Arches Court, has jurisdiction in all ecclesiastical causes except such as belong to the prerogative court; and all manner of appeals from bishops or their chancellors or commissaries, deans and chapters, archdeacons, and others, are directed thereto. The dean of the arches has also a peculiar jurisdiction over thirteen parishes in London, called a deanery, which 1 are exempt from the authority of the Bishop of London, * and of which the parish of Bow (c∕e arcubus) is the principal. The persons concerned in this court are, the judge, advocates, registrars, proctors, &c.; and the appeal from it is to the king in chancery.

Courts-Baron. A baron whose land had been erected by the king in liberam baroniam, had a jurisdiction both civil and criminal, which he might exercise either in his own person or by his bailie. But this jurisdiction was, by the heritable jurisdiction act, 20 Geo. II. c. 43, reduced to the right of recovering from his vassals and tenants the feu-duties and rents of the land, and compelling them to perform the services which they maybe bound to render, and to the right of deciding in civil questions where the debt or damage does not exceed forty shillings, beyond which his civil jurisdiction cannot be prorogated. The criminal jurisdiction is, by the same statute, limited to assaults, batteries, and smaller offences, which may be punished by a fine not exceeding twenty shillings, recoverable by poinding, or, in default of goods, commutable into one month’s imprisonment at the utmost. But this jurisdiction has been subjected to so many regulations and restrictions, that it is seldom or never exercised by the baron.

CουRT-Martial,A court appointed for the punishment of offences in officers, soldiers, and sailors. The powers of courts-martial in this country are regulated by the mutinybill.

There are other courts^of different kinds, which are noticed under their appropriate denominations throughout the work.