c o u 
cou 
three, the county of Durham is now the only 
one remaining in the hands of a subject; for 
the earldom of Chester was united to the 
crown by king Henry III. and has ever 
since given title to the king’s eldest son. 
And the county-palatine or duchy of Lan- 
caster, in the reign of king Henry IV., was 
by act of parliament vested in the king, and 
his heirs, kings of England, for ever. 1 
Black. 118. • 
There is a court of chancery in the coun- 
ties-palatine of Lancaster and Durham, over 
which there are chancellors; that of Lan- 
caster called the chancellor of the duchy : 
and there is a court of exchequer at Chester, 
of a mixed nature, for law and equity, of 
which the chamberlain of Chester is judge. 
There are also a chief justice of Chester, and 
other justices in the other counties-palatine, 
to determine civil actions and pleas of the 
crown. In all of these the king’s ordinary 
writs are of no force ; and the judges of as- 
size, who sit within these franchises,' sit by 
virtue of a special commission from the ' 
owners thereof, and under the seal thereof, 
and not by the usual commission under the 
great seal of England. 3 Black. 79. 
County-corporate, a title given to 
several cities on which the English monarchs 
have thought proper to bestow extraordinary 
privileges, annexing to them a particular 
territory of land or jurisdiction; as the county 
of Middlesex annexed to the city of Lon- 
don, the county of the city of York, the 
county of the city of Bristol, &c. 
County-court. This was formerly a 
court of great dignity and splendour; the bi- 
shop and the earl, with the principal gentle- 
men of the shire, sitting therein to adminis- 
ter justice, both in lay and ecclesiastical 
causes. But its dignity was much impaired 
when the bishop was prohibited, and the 
earl neglected, to attend it : and in modern 
times, as the proceedings are removable hence 
into the king’s superior courts, by writ of 
pone or recordare, this has occasioned the 
business of the county -court in a great mea- 
sure to decline. 
By the 2d and 3d Edw. VI. c. 25, no coun- 
ty-court shall be longer deferred than one 
month from court to court; so that the 
county-court shall be kept every month, and 
not otherwise ; and only 28 days shall be 
reckoned to the month. 2 Inst. 74. And 
it may be kept at any p ace within the 
county, unless restrained by statute. Wood, 
c.-4. c. 1. 
The suitors, that is, the freeholders, are the 
judges of this court ; except that in re-dissei- 
sin,' - by the statute of Merton, the sheriff is 
judge. 
The jury in this court ought to be free- 
holders ; but the quantum of their estate is 
not material. 
This court shall hold pleas between party 
and party, where the debt or damage is un- 
der 40s. 4 Inst. 266. But in replevin the 
sum may exceed 40s. Id. 
It has not cognizance of trespass vi et ar- 
mis , because a line is thereby due to the 
king, which it cannot impose. Id. But by 
virtue of a writ of justices, the court may 
hold plea of trespass vi et arrnis, and of any 
sum, or of all actions personal above 40s. Id. 
Causes may be removed from this court 
by a writ of recordare, issuing out of the 
chancery, directed to the sheriff, command- 
ing him to send the plaint that is before him 
in his county-court (without writ of justicies) 
into the court of king’s bench or common 
pleas, to the end that the cause may be 
there determined ; whereupon the sheriff is 
to summon the other party to be in that 
Court (into which the plaint Is to be sent) at 
a day certain ; and he is to make certificate 
of all this under his own seal, and the seal of 
four suitors of the same court. Head, Coun- 
ty-court. 
Causes may also be removed by pone, 
which -differs in nothing from a recordare, 
except that it removes such suits as are be- 
fore the sheriff by writ of justicies, and a re- 
cordare is to remove the suit that is by plaint 
only, without a writ. Id. And though the 
plea be discontinued in the county, yet the 
plaintiff or defendant may remove the plaint 
into the common pleas or king’s bench, and 
it shall be good, and he shall declare upon 
the same. Id. 
County-rate. By the 12th Geo. II. 
c. 29. the justices at their general or quarter 
sessions, or the greater part of them (and by 
13 Geo. If. c. 18. justices of liberties and 
franchises not subject to county-commission- 
ers), shall have power to make one general 
county-rate, to answer all former distinct 
rates, which shall be assessed on every pa- 
rish, & c. and collected and paid by the high 
constables of hundreds to treasurers appoint- 
ed by the justices, which money shall be 
deemed the public stock, See. : but appeal 
lies by the churchwardens and overseers 
against the rate of any particular parish. 
22 Geo. III. c. 17. This rate is, — 
For the repairing of bridges and highways 
thereto adjoining, and salaries for the survey- 
ors of bridges ; for building and repairing 
county -gaols; for repairing shire-halls; for 
the salary of the master of the house of cor- 
rection, and relieving the weak and sick in 
his custody ; for the relief of the prisoners in 
the king’s bench and marshalsea prisons, and 
of poor hospitals in the county, and of those 
who shall sustain losses b_v lire, water, the 
sea, or other casualties, and other charitable 
purposes for the relief of the poor, as the jus- 
tices in sessions shall think lit ; for the relief 
of the prisoners in the county-gaol ; for the 
preservation of the health of the prisoners ; 
for the salary of the chaplain of the county - 
gaol ; for setting prisoners to work ; for 
salary of persons making returns of the 
prices of corn ; for charges attending the re- 
moval of any of the said general county- 
rates by certiorari ; for money for purchas- 
ing lands at the ends of county-bridges ; for 
charges of rebuilding or repairing houses of 
correction, and for fitting up and furnishing 
the same, and employing the persons sent 
thither; for charges of apprehending, con- 
veying, and maintaining, rogues and vaga- 
bonds 0 ; for charges of soldiers’ carriages over 
and above the officers’ pay for the same, by 
the several yearly acts against mutiny and 
desertion, and by" the militia act ; for the co- 
roner’s fee of 9 d. a mile for travelling to take 
an inquisition, and 20s. for taking it ; for 
charges of carrying persons to the gaol or 
house of correction ; for the gaoler’s fees for 
persons acquitted of felony or discharged by 
proclamation ; for charges' of prosecuting and 
convicting felons; for charges of prose- 
cuting and convicting persons plundering 
shipwrecked goods ; for charges of maintain- 
C 0 U 447 
ing the militia-men’s families by the several 
militia acts ; for chaVges of bringing insol- 
vent debtors to the assizes, in order to their 
discharge, if themselves are not able to pay ; 
for the charges of transporting felons, or con- 
veying them to the places of labour and con- 
finement ; for charges of carry ing parish ap- 
prentices, bound to the sea service, to the 
port to which the master belongeth. 
By the 12th Geo. II. c. 29, the church- 
wardens and overseers shall, in 30 days after 
demand made, out ot the money 7 collected 
for relief of the poor, pay the sums so assess- 
ed on each parish or place : and it they shall 
neglect or refuse so to pay. the high-con 
stable shall levy the same by distress and sale 
of their goods, by 7 warrant ot two or more 
justices residing in or near such parish or 
place. Where there is no poor-rate, the jus- 
tices, in their general or quarter sessions, 
shall by their order direct the sum assessed 
on such parish, township, or place, to be rated 
and levied by the petty 7 constable or other 
peace-officer, as money for the relief ot^ the 
poor is by law to be rated or levied. r [ he 
high-constab'es, at or before the next session 
respectively after they have received the mo- 
ney, shall pay the same to the treasurer; 
and the money so paid shall be deemed the 
public stock: and the said high-constables 
shall deliver in a true account on oath (if re- 
quired) of the money by them received, be- 
fore the said justices at their general or quar- 
ter sessions. The treasurer shall pay so 
much of the money in his hands to such per- 
sons 7 ; as the justices in session shall from time 
to time appoint, for any uses and purposes to 
which the public stock of any county, city,, 
division, or liberty, is or shall be applicable ; 
and shall deliver in a true. account on oath 
(if required) of his receipts and disbursements 
to the justices at every general or quarter 
session, and also the proper vouchers for 
the same, to be kept amongst the records of 
the sessions: and the discharge of the said 
justices, by their order at their general or 
quarter session, shall be a sufficient discharge 
to the treasurer : and no new 7 rate shall be 
made until it appears by the treasurer’s ac- 
counts or otherwise, that three-fourths of the 
money collected lias been expended for the 
purposes aforesaid. If the churchwardens 
and overseers of any parish or place shall 
think such parish or place is overrated, they 
may appeal to the next general or quarter 
session. 
COUP-DE-MAIN, in military affairs, im- 
plies a desperate resolution in ail small expe- 
ditions of surprise, &c. The favourable side 
of the proposed action must ever be viewed ; 
for if what may happen, arrive, or fall out, is 
chiefly thought upon, it will at the very best, 
not only greatly discourage, but in general 
it will produce a total failure. The very 
name of an expedition implies risk, hazard, 
precarious warfare, and a critical but despe- 
rate operation or coup-de-main. 
Coup -(Vail, in a military sense, signifies 
that fortunate aptitude of eye in a general or 
other officer, by which he is enabled at one 
glance on the map to see the weak parts of 
an enemy’s country, or to discern the strong 
ones of his own. By possessing a ready 
coup-d’ccil, a general may surmount the 
greatest difficulties, particularly in offensive 
operations. On a small scale this iacnlty is 
of the greatest utility. Actions have been 
