cou 



CRA 



of a manor has within his own precints. 

 This court must be held by prescription, 

 and is of two kinds, viz. by common law, 

 and by custom ; the former is where the 

 barons or freeholders, being 1 suitors, are 

 the judges ; the other is, that where the 

 lord or his steward is the judge. 



COURT of chivalry, or the marshal's 

 court, that whereof the judges are the 

 lord high constable and the earl marshal 

 of England. This court is the fountain 

 of martial law, and the earl marshal is not 

 only one of the judges, but is to see exe- 

 cution done. See CHIVALRY. 



COURT of conscience, a court in the 

 cities of London, Westminster, and some 

 other places, that determines matters in 

 all cases, where the debt or damage is un- 

 der forty shillings. 



COURT of delegates, a court where dele- 

 gates are appointed by the King's com- 

 mission, under the great seal, upon an ap- 

 peal to him from the sentence of an arch- 

 bishop, &c. in ecclesiastical causes, or of 

 the court of admiralty,in any marine cause. 



COURT of hustings) a court of record 

 held at Guildhall, for the city of London, 

 before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, 

 Sheriffs, and Recorder, where all pleas, 

 real, personal, and mixed, are determin- 

 ed ; where all lands, tenements, &c. with- 

 in the said city, or its bounds, are pleada- 

 ble in two hustings ; the one called the 

 hustings of plea of lands, and the other the 

 hustings of common pleas. The court of 

 hustings is the highest court within the 

 city, in which writs of exigent may be 

 taken out, and outlawries awarded, 

 wherein judgment is given by the Recor- 

 der. To the Lord Mayor and city of Lon- 

 don belong several other courts, as the 

 court of Common Council, consisting of 

 two houses, the one for the Lord Mayor 

 and Aldermen, and the otherfor the com- 

 moners; in which court are made all bye- 

 laws which bind the citizens. The Cham- 

 berlain's court relates to the rents and re- 

 venues of the city, to the affairs of ser- 

 vants, &c. 



To the Lord Mayor belongs the court of 

 coroner and escheator; another court for 

 the conservation of the river of Thames ; 

 another of gaol delivery, held eight times 

 a year at the Old Bailey, for the trial of 

 criminals, where the Lord Mayor himself 

 is the chief judge. There are also other 

 courts, called wardmotes, or meetings of 

 the wards ; and courts ofhalymote, or as- 

 semblies of the guilds and fraternities. 



COURT-I.EET, a court ordained for the 

 punishment of offences under high trea- 

 son against the crown. 



COURT-MARTIAL, a court appointed for 

 the punishing offences in officers, .sol- 

 diers, and sailors, the powers of which 

 are regulated by the Mutiny Bill. 



COURT of Requeats, was a court of 

 equity, of the same nature with the. chan- 

 cery, but inferior to it. It was chiefly in- 

 stituted for the relief of such petitioners, 

 as in conscionable cases addressed 

 themselves to his Majesty ; the Lord 

 Privy Seal was the chief judge of this 

 court, 



COURTESY, or CURTEST of England, 

 a certain tenure, whereby a man, marry- 

 ing an heiress seized of lands of fee sim- 

 ple, or fee tail general, or seized as heir 

 of the tail special, and hath a child by 

 her that cometh alive into the world, 

 though both it and his wife die forthwith, 

 yet, if she were in possession, he shall 

 keep the land during his life, and is call- 

 ed tenant per legem Anglise, or tenant by 

 the courtesy of England ; because this 

 privilege is not allowed in any country 

 except Scotland, where it is called curia- 

 litas Scotiae. 



COUSIN, a term of relation between 

 the children of brothers and sisters, who, 

 in the first generation, are called cousin- 

 germans; in the second generation,second 

 cousins, &c. 



Before the time of Theodosius, there 

 was no law, eccesiastical or civil, to pro- 

 hibit the marriage of cousin-germans : 

 under the reign of thatemperor they were 

 forbidden, but allowed again in the next 

 reign, and under Justinian, who fixed 

 the allowance in the body ofhis laws; but 

 still the canons continued the prohibition, 

 and extended it to a greater degree. 



COUSU, in heraldry, signifies a piece 

 of another colour or metal placed on the 

 ordinary, as if it were sewed on, as the 

 word imports. This is generally of co- 

 lour upon colour, or metal upon metal, 

 contrary to the general rule of heraldry. 



COVERT, in heraldry, denotes some- 

 thing like apiece of hanging, or a pavi- 

 lion falling over the top of a chief or other 

 ordinary, so as not to hide, but only to be 

 a covering to it. 



COW, in zoology, the female of the ox- 

 kind. See Bos. 



CRAB'S claws. See MATERIA MEDI- 

 CA. 



CRAB'S eyes. See PHARMACY. 



CRAB, an engine of wood, with three 

 claws, placed on the ground like a cap- 

 stan, and used at launching, or heaving 

 ships into the dock. 



CRADLE, in surgery, a case in which 

 a broken leg is laid after being set. 





