COURT, a word originally denoting an enclosed place, and so surviving in its architectural sense (courtyard, etc.). It is aptly used as a term for judicial tribunals, which originally were in fact enclosures within which sat the judges and their officials, whilst counsel, attorneys and the general public stood outside. At first these enclosures were temporary structures in the open field; later, fixtures in a large room or hall. Before the separation of judicial from legislative and administrative functions, the king and his chief councillors sat in his palace for the exercise of all these functions and so the household of the king was also called "the court." And since all judicial authority is derived from the king, his presence is assumed in all the courts, which were not any part of the curia regis, but the curia regis itself.
Their history affords a remarkable illustration of the continuity characterizing English institutions. It might perhaps be too much to say that all the courts now sitting in England may be traced back to a common origin, but at any rate the higher courts are all offshoots from the Curia Regis ; see COURT OF