Common Courts - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: common courtsRules of Court
Rules of Court, orders regulating the practice of the Courts; or orders made between parties to an action or suit.(1) General rules regulating the practice of the Courts, both of Common Law and Equity, have from time to time been made by the Courts in pursuance of the powers of various Acts of Parliament. See as to the Common Law Courts, which promulgated consecutive Rules without any division into Orders, Day's Common Law Procedure Acts; and as to the Court of Chancery, which promulgated Orders subdivided into Rules, Morgan's Chancery Acts and Orders. The scheme of the Chancery Procedure Acts was that the Orders made thereunder should come into force as soon as made, subject to the power of Parliament to annul them afterwards (see, e.g., Chancery Procedure Act, 1858, s. 12), while that of the Common Law Procedure Acts, was that Rules made thereunder should not come into force until they had lain before Parliament for three months (see 13 & 14 Vict. c. 16, and Common Law Procedure Act,...
Supreme Court of Judicature
Supreme Court of Judicature. By Judicature Act, 1925, s. 1, there shall be a Supreme Court of Judicature in England consisting of His Majesty's High Court of Justice (referred to as the High Court), and His Majesty's Court of Appeal (referred to as the Court of Appeal).Formerly, by the (English) Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1873, ss. 3 and 4 (amended by (English) Jud. Act, 1875, s. 9), it was enacted that from the commencement of that Act (November 1, 1875: see Judicature Act, 1875, s. 2) the court of Chancery of England, the Court of Queen's Bench, the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, the Court of Exchequer, the High Court of Admiralty, the Court of Probate, and the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, should be united and consolidated together, and should constitute one Supreme Court of Judicature in England; the said Supreme Court to consist of two permanent Divisions, being 'Her (now His) Majesty's High Court of Justice' and 'Her (now His) Majesty's Court of Appeal.'S...
Common Law
Common Law [lex communis, Lat.]. 'The phrase 'common law' is used in two very different senses. It is cometimes contrasted with equity; it then denotes the law which, prior to the Judicature Act, was administered in the three ' superior ' Courts of law at Westminster, as distinct from that administered by the Court of Chancery at Lincoln's Inn. At other times it is used in contradistinction to the statute law, and then denotes the unwritten law, whether legal or equitable in its origin, which does not derive its authority from any express declaration of the will of the Legislature. This unwritten law has the same force and effect as the statute law. It depends for its authority upon the recognition given by our Law Courts to principles, customs, and rules of conduct previously existing among the people. This recognition was formerly enshrined in the memory of legal practitioners and suitors in the Courts; it is now recorded in the voluminous series of our law reports which embody the d...
Common Pleas, the Court of
Common Pleas, the Court of, so called because its original jurisdiction was to determine controversies between subject and subject, one of the three Superior Courts of Common Law at Westminster, presided over by a lord chief justice and five (formerly four) puisne, judges. It was detached from the King's Court (Aula Regis) as early as the reign of Richard I., and the 14th clause of Magna Charta enacted that it should not follow the King's Court, but be held in some certain place. Its jurisdiction was altogether confined to civil matters, having no cognizance in criminal cases, and was concurrent with that of the King' Bench and Exchequer in personal actions and ejectment. It had a peculiar or exclusive jurisdiction in the following cases:-(I.) Formal or plenary.(1) Real actions, under the C.L.P. Act, 1860, s. 26.(2) Under the (English) Parliamentary Elections Act, 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. 125), over petitions complaining of an undue return or undue election of a member of Parliament.(II....
High Court of Justice
High Court of Justice. The (English) Judicature Act, 1925, has replaced with amendments the Judicature Act, 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c. 66). The earlier Act abolished the former Superior Courts of Law and Equity, and in their place established a Supreme Court of Judicature (see that title), consisting of the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal. The High Court is now a Superior Court of Record, and has vested in it, by s. 16 of the Act of 1873, amended by ss. 9 and 33 of the Judicature Act, 1875, the jurisdiction formerly exercised by the following Courts, viz.: '(1) The High Court of Chancery; (2) The Court of King's Bench; (3) The Court of Common Pleas at Westminster; (4) The Court of Exchequer; (5) The Court of Admiralty; (6) The Court of Probate; (7) The Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes; (8) The Court of Common Pleas at Lancaster; (9) The Court of Pleas at Durham; (10) The Courts created by Commissions of Assize, of Oyer and Terminer, and of Gaol Delivery, or any such C...
Masters of the Common Law Courts
Masters of the Common Law Courts. There were five Masters on the plea side of each of the Courts of King's Bench and Exchequer, and also in the Common Pleas. They were appointed by 7 Wm. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 30, and their duties were to tax costs, compute damages, attend the judges in court, etc. These officers became, under the Judicatures Act, officers of the Supreme Court, and were attached to the Division of the High Court representing the Court to which they formerly belonged (Jud. Act, 1873, s. 77; (English) Jud. Act, 1875, Ord. LX., r. 1). Under 30 & 31 Vict. c. 68, and the (English) General Rules of Michalmas Term, 1867, the Masters transacted a considerable portion of the business at Judges' Chambers; and they now have similar powers (R.S.C., Ord. LIV., r. 12)....
Court-baron
Court-baron, a court which, before 1926 (see COPYHOLDS), although not one of record, was incident to every manor, and could not be severed therefrom. It was ordained for the maintenance of the services and duties stipulated for by lords of manors, and for the purpose of determining actions of a personal nature, where the debt or damage was under forty shillings.This court might be held at any place within the manor, giving fifteen days' notice, including three Sundays. Of the day when the court will be held; but three or four days' notice have been deemed sufficient. It was frequently held together with the court-leet, and generally assembled but once a year.The freehold tenants alone were suitors to the Court-baron; and it was essential to the existence of the court that there should be two suitors at the least; for since freemen can only be tried by their peers or equals, should there be but one freeman, he could then have no peer or judge, and consequently he had to appeal to the co...
Arches, Court of
Arches, Court of [fr. curia de arcubus, Lat.], a court of appeal belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the judge of which is called the Dean of the Arches, because his Court was anciently held in the church of Saint Mary-le-Bow (Sancta Maria de arcubus), so named from the steeple, which is raised upon pillars, built archwise. It was formerly held, as also were the other principal Spiritual Courts, in the hall belonging to the College of Civilians, commonly called Doctors' Commons. It is now held at the Church House, Westminster. Its proper jurisdiction is only over the 13 peculiar parishes belonging to the Archbishop in London, but the office of Dean of the Arches having been for a long time united to that of the Archbishiop's Official Principal, the Dean of the Arches, in right of such added office, receives and determines appeals from the sentences of all Inferior Ecclesiastical Courts within the province. There was formerly an appeal to the king in Chancery, or to a Court of De...
Exchequer Chamber, Court of
Exchequer Chamber, Court of, a tribunal of error and appeal.First, it existed in former times as a Court of mere debate, such causes from the other Courts being sometimes adjourned into it as the judges upon argument found to be of great weight and difficulty, before any judgment was given upon them in the Court below. It then consisted of all the judges of the three Superior Courts of Common Law, and at times the Lord Chancellor also.Second, it existed as a Court of Error, where the judgments of each of the Superior Courts of Common Law, in all actions whatever, were subject to revision by the judges of the other two, sitting collectively. See 27 Eliz. c. 8 (error from Queen's Bench), and 11 Geo. 4 & 1 Wm. 4, c. 70, s. 8 (error from the three Courts). The composition of this Court consequently admitted of three different combinations, consisting of any two of the Courts below which were not parties to the judgment appealed against. There was no given number required to constitute the ...
Equitable claims and defences at Common Law
Equitable claims and defences at Common Law; The (English) Common Law Procedure Act, 1854 (ss 83-86), enabled any defendant to plead the facts which would entitle him, if judgment were obtained against him, to relief in Equity from such judgment on equitable grounds, by way of defence, and also enabled the plaintiff to avoid such defence by a replication upon equitable grounds. A plea on equitable grounds was good at Law only where an absolute and unconditional injunction wold be granted in Equity.The (English) Judicature Act, 1925, s. 36, and follow-ing sections, reproducing s. 24 of the (English) Judicature Act, 1873, has combined the jurisdiction of the Courts of Common Law and Equity so that legal and equitable remedies may be granted in the same Court but without affecting the nature of the rights. The object is to avoid multiplicity of actions and it does not confer a new jurisdiction (The James Westall, 1905, P., p. 51), and if there is any conflict or variance between the rules...
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