eotf 



cou 



in the inns of court. See BARRISTER. 



After 16 years standing they may be call- 

 ed to the degree of sergeant. The judges 

 of the courts of Westminster are always 

 admitted sergeants before they are advan- 

 ced to the bench. From both sergeants 

 and barristers the king's council are usual- 

 ly selected, the two principal of whom are 

 called his attorney and solicitor general. 

 Counsel are supposed to plead gratis, 

 and can tna:ntain no action for their fees ; 

 and to encourage in them a freedom of 

 speech in the lawful defence of their 

 clients, a counsellor is not answerable 

 for any matter by him spoken, though it 

 should prove groundless, and reflect on 

 the reputation of another ; provided it 

 relates to the cause which he espouses, 

 and is suggested in his client's instruc- 

 tions. And notwithstanding counsellors 

 have a special privilege to practise the 

 law, yet they are punishable for misbe- 

 haviour by attachment. No counsel is 

 allowed to a prisoner upon a general 

 issue of indictment of felony, unless some 

 point of law arise ; for the court is the 

 prisoner's only counsel. 



COUNT, a nobleman who possesses a 

 domain erected into a county. The dig- 

 nity is a medium between that of a duke 

 and a baron. See EARL. Counts were 

 originally lords of the court, or of the 

 emperor's retinue, and had their name 

 comites a comitando. Eusebius tells us, 

 that Constantine divided them into three 

 classes ; of the two first the senate was 

 composed : those of the third had no 

 place in the senate, but enjoyed several 

 other privileges of senators. There were 

 counts that served on land, others at sea ; 

 some in a civil, and some in a legal ca- 

 pacity. The quality of count is now no 

 more than a title, which a king grants 

 upon erecting a territory into a county, 

 with a reserve of jurisdiction and sove- 

 reignty to himself. A count has a right 

 to bear on his arms a coronet adorned 

 with three precious stones, and sur- 

 mounted with three large pearls, where- 

 of those in the middle and extremities 

 of the coronet advance aboVe the rest. 

 See CMOWK. 



COUNT, in law, signifies the original 

 declaration of complaint in a real action, 

 as a declaration is in a personal one. 



COUNT wheel, in the striking part of a 

 clock, a wheel which moves round once 

 in 12 or 24 hours. It is sometimes called 

 the locking-wheel. See CLOCK. 



COUNTER barry, or CONTRE barre^ in 

 heraldry, is the same as our bendy sinis- 

 ter per bend counterchanged. 



Counter bond, a bond of indemnifica- 



tion, given to one who has given hisbon4 

 as a security for another's payment of a 

 debt, or the faithful discharge of his of- 

 fice or trust. 



COUNTER changed, in heraldry, is when 

 any field or charge is divided or parted 

 by any line or lines of partition, consist- 

 ing all interchangeably of the same tinc- 

 tures. 



COUNTER deed, a secret writing, either 

 before a notary or under a private seal, 

 which destroys, invalidates, or alters a 

 public one. 



COUNTER ermine, in heraldry, is the 

 contrary to ermine, being a black field, 

 with white spots. 



COUNTERFEITS, in our law, are 

 persons that obtain any money or goods 

 by counterfeit letters or false tokens, 

 who, being convicted before justices of 

 assize, or of the peacr-, &.c. are to suffer 

 such punishment as shall be thought fit to 

 be inflicted, under^ death, as imprison- 

 ment, pillory, &c. 



COUNTER march, in military affairs, a 

 change of the face or wings of a battalion, 

 by which means those that were in the 

 front come to be in the rear. It also sig- 

 nifies returning, or marching back again. 



COUNTER mark, a mark put upon goods 

 that have been marked before. It is also 

 used for the several marks put upon 

 goods belonging to several persons, to 

 shew that they must not be opened but 

 in the presence of them all, or their 

 agents. 



In goldsmith's work, the counter-mark 

 is the mark punched upon the work at 

 the hall, to shew that the metal is stand- 

 ard. With horse -jockies, the counter- 

 mark is an artful hole made in the teeth 

 of old horses, to make them pass for 

 horses of six years old. Counter-mark 

 of a medal is a mark added to it a long 

 time after its being struck. It is some- 

 times an emperor's head, sometimes a 

 cornucopia, &c. Counter-marks are dis- 

 tinguished from the monograms in this, 

 that, being struck after the medal, they 

 are indented : whereas the monograms, 

 being struck at the same time with the 

 medals, have a little relievo. 



COUNTER paled, in heraldry, is when 

 the escutcheon is divided into twelve 

 pales parted per fesse, the two colours 

 being counter-changed ; so that the up- 

 per are of one colour, and the lower of 

 another. 



COUNTER part, in music, denotes one 

 part to be applied to another. Thus the 

 bass is said to be a counter-part to the 

 treble. In law, it is the duplicate or copy 

 of anv indenture or deed. 



