COUNTY COURT. In English Law.
Tribunals of limited jurisdiction, originally established under the statute 9 & 10 Vict.
c. 95.
They had at their institution jurisdiction of ac tions for the recovery of debts, damages, and de mands, legacies, and balances of partnership ac counts, where the sum sued for did not exceed twenty pounds. It has since been much extended, especially in cases where the parties give assent in writing. They are chiefly regulated by stat. 9 & 10 Viet. c. 95; 12 & 13 Vict. c. 101; 13 & 14 Viet. c. 61; ]5 & 16 Vict. c. 54; 19 ,a 20 Viet. e. 108; 21 & 22 Vict. o. 74. See 3 Sharswood, Blacket. Comm. 76.
Tribunals of limited jurisdiction in the county of Middlesex, established under the statute 22 Geo. II. c. 33.
' These courts are held once a month at least in every hundred in the county of Mid dlesex, by the county clerk and a jury of twelve suitors, or freeholders, summoned for that purpose. They examine the parties under oath, and make such order in the case as they shall judge agreeable to conscience. 3 Stephen, Comm. 452; 3 Blackstone, Comm. 83.
• The county court was a court of great•antiquity, and originally of much splendor and importance.
It was a court of limited jurisdiction incident to the jurisdiction of the sheriff, in • which, however, toe suitors were really the judges while the sheriff ffi was a ministerial officer. It had jurisdiction of personal actions for the recovery of small debts, and of many real actions prior to their abolition. By virtue of a jueticiee, it might entertain jurisdic tion of personal actions to any amount. At this court all proclamations of laws, outlawries, etc. were made, and the elections of such officers as sheriffs, coroners and others took place. In the time of Edward I. it was held by the earl and bishop, and was of great dignity. It was superseded by the courts of Requests to a great degree ; and these, in turn, gave way to the new county courts, as they are sometimes called distinctively.
In American Law. Courts in many of the states of the United States, and in Canada, of widely varying powers. See the accounts of the various states and the article CANADA.