(the Court of), and the Palace-court at Westminster, though two distinct courts, are frequently confounded together. The former was originally holden before the steward and marshal of the king's house, and was instituted to administer justice between the king's domestic servants, that they might not be drawn into other courts, and thereby Martha the king lose their service. It was formerly held in, though not a part of, the aula regis; and, when that Marshall was subdivided, remained a distinct jurisdiction: holding plea of all trespasses committed within the verge of the court, where only one of the parties is in the king's domestic service (in which case the inquest shall be taken by a jury of the country); and of all debts, contracts, and covenants, where both of the contracting parties belong to the royal household; and then the inquest shall be composed of men of the household only. By the statute of 13 Ric. II. st. 1. c. 3. (in affirmance of the common law), the verge of the court in this respect extends for 12 miles round the king's place of residence. And, as this tribunal was never subject to the jurisdiction of the chief jurist, no writ of error lay from it (though a court of record) to the king's-bench, but only to parliament, till the statutes of 5 Edw. III. c. 2. and 10 Edw. III. st. 2. c. 3. which allowed such writ of error before the king in his place. But this court being ambulatory, and obliged to follow the king in all his progresses, so that by the removal of the household actions were frequently discontinued, and doubts having arisen as to the extent of its jurisdiction, king Charles I. in the fifth year of his reign, by his letters-patent, erected a new court of record, called the curia palatii, or palace-court, to be held before the steward of the household and knight-marshal, and the steward of the court, or his deputy; with jurisdiction to hold plea of all manner of personal actions whatsoever, which shall arise between any parties within 12 miles of his majesty's palace at Whitehall. The court is now held once a week, together with the ancient court of marshallsea, in the borough of Southwark; and a writ of error lies from thence to the court of king's-bench. But if the cause is of any considerable consequence, it is usually removed on its first commencement, together with the custody of the defendant, either into the king's-bench or common-pleas by a writ of habeas corpus cum causa: and the inferior business of the court hath of late years been much reduced, by the new courts of conscience erected in the environs of London; in consideration of which the four counsel belonging to these courts had salaries granted them for their lives by the stat. 23. Geo. II. c. 27.