COURT (Fr. cour, Dutch, koert, a yard). In Practice. A body in the government to which the public administration of justice is delegated.
The presence of a sufficient number of the members of such a body regularly convened in an authorized place at au appointed time, engaged in the full and regular performance of its functions.
The place where justice is judicially ad ministered. Coke, Litt. 58 a.
The judge or judges themselves, when duly convened.
The term is used in all the above senses, though but infrequently in the third sense given. The ap plication of the term—which originally denoted the place of assembling—to denote the assemblage, strik ingly resembles the similar application of the Latin term curia (if, indeed, it be not a mere translation), and is readily explained by the fact that the earlier courts were merely assemblages. in the court-yard of the baron or of the king himself, of those who were qualified and whose duty it was so to appear at stated times or upon summons. Traces of this usage and constitution of courts still remain in the courts baron, the various courts for the trial of im peachments in England and the United States, and in the control exercised by the parliament of Eng land and the legislatures of the various states of the United States over the organization of courts of justice as constituted in modern times. Indeed, the English parliament is still the High Court of Parliament, and in Massachusetts the united legis lative bodies are entitled, as they (and the body to which they succeeded) have been from time imme morial, the General Court.
In England, however, and in those states of the United States which existed as colonies prior to the revolution, most of these judicial functions were early transferred to bodies of a compacter organi zation, whose sole function was the public adminis tration of justice. The power of impeachment of
various high officers, however, is still retained by the legislative bodies both in England and the United States, and is, perhaps, the only judicial function which has ever been exercised by the legis lative bodies in the newer states of the United States. These more compact bodies are the courts, as the term is used in its modern acceptance. The one common and essential feature in all courts is a judge or judges,—so essential, indeed, that they are even called the court, as distinguished from the accessory and subordinate officers. Courts of record are also provided with a recording officer, variously known as clerk, prothonotary, register, etc.; while in all courts there are counsellors, attorneys, or similar officers recognized as peculiarly suitable persons to represent the parties actually concerned in the causes, and who are considered as officers of the court and assistants of the judges, together with a variety of ministerial officers, such as sheriffs, con stables, bailiffs, tipstaves, criers, etc. For a con sideration of the functions of the various members of a court, see the various appropriate titles, as JURY, SHERIFF, etc.
Courts are said to belong to one or more of the following classes, according to the nature and extent of their jurisdiction, their forms of proceeding, or the principles upon which they administeriustice, Admiralty. See ADMIRALTY.
Appellate, which take cognizance of causes removed from another court by appeal or writ of error. See APPEAL; APPELLATE JURISDIC TION; DIVISION OF OPINION.
Central. See CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.
Civil, which redress private wrongs. See