HALL, in Architecture, a large room at the entrance of a fine house and palace. Vitruvius mentions three kinds of halls: the tetrastyle, with four columns supporting the platform or ceiling; the Corinthian, with columns all round let into the wall, and vaulted over; and the Egyptian, which had a peristyle of insulated Corinthian columns, bearing a second order with a ceiling.
HALL is also particularly used to signify a court of justice, or an edifice in which there is one or more tribunals. In Westminster Hall are held the great courts of England, viz. the King's Bench, Chancery, Common Pleas, and Exchequer. In adjoining apartments is likewise held the high court of parliament.