an appendage to a house or habitation; consisting of a piece of ground inclosed with walls, but open upwards.

Court is also used for the palace or place where a king or sovereign prince resides.

a law sense, is defined to be a place wherein justice is judicially administered. And, as, by our excellent constitution, the sole executive power of the laws is vested in the person of the king, it will follow that all courts of justice, which are the medium by which he administers the laws, are derived from the power of the crown. For whether created by act of parliament or letters patent, or subsisting by prescription (the only methods by which any court of judicature can exist), the king's consent in the two former is expressly, and in the latter impliedly, given. In all these courts, the king is supposed in contemplation of law to be always present; but as that is in fact impossible, he is there represented by his judges, whose power is only an emanation of the royal prerogative.

For the more speedy, universal, and impartial administration of justice between subject and subject, the law hath appointed a prodigious variety of courts, some with a more limited, others with a more extensive jurisdiction; some constituted to inquire only, others to hear and determine; some to determine in the first instance, others upon appeal and by way of review. See Law, N° xviii., xix., c. cxli., clvi., clvii., and the respective articles in the order of the alphabet. One distinction may be here mentioned, that runs throughout them all; viz. that some of them are courts of record, others not of record. A court of record is that where the acts and judicial proceedings are enrolled in parchment for a perpetual memorial and testimony: which rolls are called the records of the court, and are of such high and supereminent authority, that their truth is not to be called in question. For it is a settled rule and maxim, that nothing shall be averred against a record, nor shall any plea, or even proof, be admitted to the contrary. And if the existence of a record be denied, it shall be tried by nothing but itself; that is, upon bare inspection whether there be any such record or not: else there would be no end of disputes. But if there appears any mistake of the clerk in making up such record, the court will direct him to amend it. All courts of record are the king's courts in right of his crown and royal dignity, and therefore no other court hath authority to fine or imprison: so that the very erection of a new jurisdiction, with power of fine or imprisonment, makes it instantly a court of records. A court not of record is the court of a private man; whom the law will not intrust with any discretionary power over the fortune or liberty of his fellow subjects. Such are the courts-baron incident to every manor, and other inferior jurisdictions; where the proceedings are not enrolled or recorded; but as well their existence as the truth of the matters therein contained shall, if disputed, be tried and determined by a jury. These courts can hold no plea of matters cognizable by the common law, unless under the value of 40s.; nor of any forcible injury whatsoever, nor having any process to arrest the person of the defendant.

In every court there must be at least three constituent parts, the actor, reus, and judex: the actor, or plaintiff, who complains of an injury done; the reus, or defendant, who is called upon to make satisfaction for it; and the judex, or judicial power, which is to examine the truth of the fact, to determine the law arising upon that fact, and, if any injury appears to have been done, to ascertain, and by its officers to apply the remedy. It is also usual in the superior courts to have attorneys, and advocates or counsel, as assistants. See Attorney and Counsel.