cou 
cording to the civil and canon law : they are 
not courts of record. 
Court of exchequer. See Exchequer. 
Court of hustings, the highest court of 
record holden at Guildhall, for the city of 
London, before the lord mayor and alder- 
men, the sheriffs, and recorder. 4 Inst. 247. 
This court determines all pleas, real and 
mixed; and here all lands, tenements, and 
hereditaments, rents, and services, within the 
city of London and suburbs of the same, are 
pleadable in two hustings; one called hust- 
ings of the plea of lands, and the other hust- 
ings of the common pleas. In the hustings 
of plea of lands are brought writs of right 
patent, directed to the sheriffs of London. 
In the hustings of common pleas are pleaded 
w rits ex gravi querela, writs of gravelet, of 
dower, waste, &c. If an erroneous judg- 
ment be given in the hustings, the party 
grieved may sue a commission out of chan- 
cery, directed to certain persons, to examine 
the record, and thereupon do right. 
Court of king’s bench. See King’s 
Bench. 
Court of the legate, was a court obtained 
by cardinal Wolsey of pope Leo X. 9 Hen. 
VlIL wherein he had power to prove wills, 
and dispense with offences against the spiri- 
tual laws, &c. This court was, however, of 
short continuance. 
C ourt of marshalsea. See Marshal- 
sea. 
Court martial, is a court for punishing 
the offences of officers and soldiers in time of 
war. See 22, 29, and 32 Geo. II. c. 3, 6, 
25, and 34. 
Court of nisi prius. See Nisi Prius. 
Court of peculiars, a spiritual court, held 
in such parishes as are exempt from the ju- 
risdiction of the bishops, and are peculiarly 
belonging to the archbishop of Canterbury, 
in whose province there are 57 such peculiars. 
Court of piepowder , a court held in fairs 
to do justice to buyers and sellers, and for 
redress of disorders committed in them ; so 
called because they are most usual in sum- 
mer, when the suitors to the court have dusty 
feet; and from the expedition in hearing 
causes proper thereunto, before the dust 
goes off the feet of the plaintiff and defend- 
ant. The court of piepowder may hold plea 
of a sum above 40. v. The steward before 
whom the court is held is the judge, and the 
trial is by merchants and traders in the fair ; 
and the judgment against the defendant shall 
be, quod amercietur. If the steward proceeds 
contrary to the statute 17 Edw. IV . he shall 
forfeit hi. 
Court of requests, was a court of equity, 
of the same nature with the court of chan- 
dlery, but inferior to it. This court having 
assumed great power to itself, so that it be- 
came burthensome, Mich, anno 40 and 41 
Eli/', in the court of common pleas, it was 
upon solemn argument adjudged, that the 
court of requests was no court of judicature, 
&c. ; and by the statute 16 and 17 Char. 1. 
c. 10, it was taken away. 4 Inst. 97. 
By 41 Geo. 111. c. 1 4, for extending the 
powers of the court of requests within the city 
of London, all debts amounting to less than 5/. 
due from any person within the jurisdiction 
of the city, are to be exclusively sued for and 
recovered. Two aldermen, and not less than 
twenty inhabitants, householders of the seve- 
ral wards and districts, are appointed com- 
Vol. I. 
COW 
missioners, and sit in rotation. The process 
is by summons ; and the commissioners have 
power to award payment by such instalments 
as are consistent with the circumstances and 
ability of the debtor. In this court an attor- 
ney’s privilege is of no avail. 
Court of the lord steward of the king’s 
household. The lord steward, or, in his ab- 
sence, the treasurer and comptroller of the 
king’s house, and steward of the marshalsea, 
may inquire of, hear and determine, in this 
court, all treasons, murders, manslaughters, 
bloodsheds, and other malicious strikings, 
whereby blood shall be shed, in any of the 
palaces and houses of the king, or in any 
other house wherein his royal person shall 
abide. 
Courts of universities. These courts are 
called the chancellor’s courts, and are kept 
by the vice-chancellors of Oxford and Cam- 
bridge. Their jurisdiction extends to all causes 
ecclesiastical and civil (except for maihem, 
felony, and relating to freehold) where a 
scholar, servant, or minister of the universi- 
ties, is one of the parties to the suit. 'I hey 
proceed in a summary way, according to 
the practice of the civil law; and the judges 
in their sentences follow the justice and 
equity of the civil law, or the laws, statutes, 
and customs of the universities, or the laws 
of the land, at their discretion. If any erro- 
neous judgment he given in these courts, ap- 
peal lies to the congregation ; thence to the 
convocation; and thence to the king in chan- 
cery by his delegates. 
Courts of Wales. By 34 and 35 Hen. 
VIII. c. 26,' it is enacted, that there shall be 
a court of great session kept twice in every 
year in each of the twelve counties ot V ales ; 
and the justices of those, courts may hold 
pleas of the crown in as large a manner as 
the king’s bench, & c. ; and also pleas of as- 
size, and all other pleas and actions teal and 
personal, in as large a manner as the com- 
mon pleas, &c. 
Writs of error shall lie from judgments in 
this great session, it being a court of record 
to the court of king’s bench at Westminster. 
But the ordinary original writs of process from 
the king’s courts at Westminster do not run 
into the principality of Wales, though process 
of execution does, as do also prerogative writs. 
COURTESY, or Curtesy of England, 
a certain tenure whereby a man marrying an 
heiress seized of lands of fee simple or fee tail 
general, or seized as heir of the tail special, 
and having a child by her that comes alive 
into the world, though both it and his wife die 
forthwith, yet if she was in possession, he 
shall keep the land during his life, and is 
called tenant per legem Anglia:, or tenant by 
the courtesy of England ; because this privi- 
lege is not allowed in any country except 
Scotland, where it is called cunalitas Scotia. 
COUSU, in heraldry, signifies a piece of 
another colour or metal placed on the ordi- 
nary, as if it were sewed on, as the word im- 
ports. 
COVERT, in heraldry, denotes some- 
thing like a piece of hanging, or a pavilion, 
falling over the top of a chief or other ordi- 
nary, so as not to hide but only to be a co- 
vering to it. 
COWARD, in heraldry, a term given to 
a lion borne in an escutcheon with his tail 
doubled or turned in between his legs. 
COWL, or Coul, a habit worn by the 
3 L 
C K A ' 44$> 
Bernardins and Benedictines, of which there 
are two kinds: one white, very large, worn 
in ceremonies; the other black, worn oil or- 
dinary occasions in the streets, &c. 
CRAB, in zoology. See Cancer. 
Crab’s-claws. See Materia Medic a. 
Crab’s-eyes. See Materia Medica. 
Crab, or gin, an engine used for mount- 
ing large guns on their carriages, &c. It is 
composed of three long and stout legs, meet- 
ing together at their tops ; these legs are 
round poles of about 12 or 13 feet long, 
whose diameters at the lower end are about 
four inches, live just below the roller besides 
the cheeks that are added to them in that 
place, and about three inches and a half 
above. 
Two of these poles can be fixed at a cer- 
tain distance from each other, by means ot 
two iron bars placed horizontally, one being 
about four feet long, the other about seven ; 
and a roller is made to run upon pivots turn- 
ing on, or in, these two poles: this roller is 
commonly seven inches and three-fourths in 
diameter, and six feet long. A portion of 
twenty inches is left square at each end, and 
holes made in each to receive the handspikes 
by which the men turn the roller : but the 
middle part is made cylindrical, to wind the 
cable upon. The transverse iron bars are 
iixed with one end to one ot the poles by 
means of a bolt, and with the other end to 
the other pole with a bolt and key ; so as to 
be readily taken out, in order that when the 
gin is to "he removed from place to place the 
poles may lie close together upon the car- 
riage. There are two iron bands and two 
iron bolts to fasten each cheek (for the pi- 
vots) to the poles, and iron plates round the 
poles where the iron bars are fixed. The 
poles are hooped at each end ; and the up- 
per ends have straps through which an iron 
bolt passes: this bolt keeps the upper ends 
together, as well as serves to support the 
iron to which the windlass is hooked. The 
windlass contains two brass pulleys, about 
which the cable goes, which is fixed to the 
dolphins of tiie gun or mortar with another 
windlass, containing two brass pulleys like- 
wise. When this machine is used, the whole 
is laid fiat on the ground, the lower end of 
the single pole extending the contrary way, 
in order to fasten the upper windlass when 
the cable has been turned round both : after 
this the upper end is raised gradually till 
the feet of the three poles (each of which 
lias an iron prong) stand nearly at equal 
distances ; in such a manner as the legs of a 
theodolite, or plain table, when set up for use 
"in the practice of Surveying. - 
CRADLE, in surgery, a case in which a 
broken leg is laid after being set. 
Cradle, among shipwrights, \a timber 
frame made along the outside of a ship, 
for the convenience of launching her with 
ease and safety. See Plate Miscel. fig. 22. 
CRAFT, in the sea-language, signifies all 
manner of nets, lines, hooks, See. used in 
fishing. Hence all such little vessels as 
ketches, hoys, and smacks, &c\ used in the 
fishing trade, are called small craft. 
CRAM BE, Sea-cabbage, Sea-beach 
Kale, or Sea-coi.ewort, a genus of the 
siliquosa order, in the tetradynamia class of 
plants ; and in the natural method ranking 
under the 39th order, siliquosa:. The four 
longer filaments are forked at top, with an 
