cou 



cou 



COURSE, in navigation, that point of 

 the compass or horizon,; on which the 

 ship steers; or the angle between the 

 rhomb-line and the meridian. See NAVI- 

 GATION. 



COUHSE, in architecture, a continued 

 range of stones, level, or of the same* 

 height throughout the whole length of a 

 building, without being interrupted by 

 any aperture. 



COURSES, in a ship, the mainsail and 

 foresail : when the ship sails under them 

 only, without lacing on 'any bonnets, 

 she is then said to go under a pair of 

 courses. To sail under a main course 

 and bonnets, is to sail under a mainsail 

 and bonnet. 



COURSING, among sportsmen, is of 

 three sorts, viz. at the deer, at the hare, 

 and at the fox. These coursings are with 

 greyhounds ; for the deer there are two 

 sorts of coursings, the one with the pad- 

 dock, the other either in the forest or 

 purlieu. 



The best method of coursing the hare 

 is, to go out and find a hare sitting, which 

 is easily done in the summer by walking 

 across the lands, either stubble, fallow, 

 or corn grounds, and casting the eye up 

 and down ; for in summer they frequent 

 those places for fear of the ticks, which 

 are common in the woods at that season ; 

 and in autumn the rains falling from the 

 trees offend them. The rest of the year 

 there is more trouble required ; as the 

 bushes and thickets must be beat to rouse 

 them, and oftentimes they will lie so 

 close, that they will not stir till the pole 

 almost touches them ; the sportsmen are 

 always pleased with this, as it promises a 

 good course. If a hare lies near any close 

 or covert, and with her head that way, it 

 is always to be expected that she will take 

 to that immediately on being put up ; all 

 the company are therefore to ride up, 

 and put themselves between her and the 

 covert before she is put up, that she may 

 take the other way, and run upon open 

 ground. When a hare is put up, it is al- 

 ways proper to give her ground, or law, 

 as it is called: that is, to let her run 

 twelve-score yards, or thereabouts, be- 

 fore the greyhounds are slipped at her ; 

 otherwise she is killed too soon, the great- 

 er part of the sport is thrown away, and 

 the pleasure of observing the several 

 turnings and windings that the creature 

 will make, to get away, is all lost. A good 

 sportsman had rather see a hare save him- 

 self after a fair course, than see her mur- 

 dered by the greyhounds as soon as she 

 is up. 



VOL. IV. 



In coursing the fox no other art is re- 

 quired, than standing close and in a clear 

 wind, on the outside of some grove where 

 it is expected he will come out ; and 

 when he is come out, he must have 

 head enough allowed him, otherwise 

 he will return back to the covert. The 

 slowest greyhound will be able to over- 

 take him, after all the odds of distance 

 necessary ; and the only danger is the 

 spoiling the dog by the fox, which too fre- 

 quently happens. For this reason, no 

 greyhound of any value should be run 

 at this course ; but the strong, hard, bit- 

 ter dogs, that will seize any thing. 



COURT, in a law sense, the place 

 where judges distribute justice, or exer- 

 cise jurisdiction ; also the assembly of 

 judges, jury, &c. in that place. 



Courts are divided into superior and in- 

 ferior, and into courts of record and base 

 courts : again, courts are either such as 

 are held in the King's, name, as all the 

 ordinary courts, or where the precepts are 

 issued in the name of the judge, as the 

 admiral's court. 



The superior courts are, those of the 

 King's Bench, the .Common Pleas, the 

 Exchequer, and the Court of Chancery. 

 A court of record is that which has a 

 power to hold plea, according to the 

 course of the common law, of real, per- 

 sonal, and mixed actions ; where the debt 

 or damage is forty shillings or above, as 

 the court of King's Bench. 



A base court, or a court not of record, 

 is where it cannot hold plea of debt, or 

 damage amounting to forty shillings, or 

 where the proceedings are not according 

 to the course of the common law, nor in- 

 rolled ; such as the county-court, courts 

 of hundreds, court -baron, See. 



The rolls of the superior courts of re- 

 cord are of such authority, as .not to ad- 

 mit of any proof against them, they be- 

 ing only triable by themselves ; but the 

 proceedings of base courts may be denied, 

 and tried by a jury. Some of the courts 

 may fine, but not imprison, a person, such 

 as the leet ; and some can neither fine 

 nor inflict punishment, and can only 

 amerce, as the county -court, court-baron, 

 &c. But the courts of record at West- 

 minster Hall have power to fine, imprison, 

 and amerce ; and in those courts the 

 plantiffneed not show, in his declaration, 

 that the cause of action arises within their 

 jurisdiction, being general ; though, in 

 inferior courts, itmust be showed at large, 

 on account they have particular jurisdic- 

 tions. 



COURT-BARON, a court that every lord 



