I 
cou 
Council, in church liistory, sn assembly 
prelates and doctors, met for tlie regu- 
lating matters relating to the doctrine or 
discipline of the church. 
COUNSELLOR at law, a person retain- 
ed by a client to plead his cause in a public 
court of judicature. There are two degrees 
of counsel, viz. barristers and sergeants. 
Barristere are called to the bar after a cer- 
tain period of standing in the inns of court. 
See Barrister. After 16 yeai-s standing 
they may be called to the degree of ser- 
geant. The judges of the courts of West- 
minster are always admitted sergeants be- 
fore they are advanced to the bench. From 
botli sergeants and barristers the King’s 
counsel are usually selected, die two prin- 
cipal of whom arc called his attorney and 
solicitor-general. Counsel are supposed to 
plead gratis, and can maintain no action 
tor their foes j and to encourage in them a 
■freedom of speech in the lawful defence of 
their clients, a coimsellor 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 sug- 
gested in his client’s instructions. And not- 
withstanding counsellors have a special pri- 
vilege to practise the law, yet they are pu- 
nishable for misbehaviour 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 do- 
main erected into a county. The dignity 
is a medium between that of a duke and a 
'baron. See Earl. Counts were origi- 
nally lords of the court, or of the Emperor’s 
retinue, and had their name eomites a comi- 
tando. Eiisebias tells us, that Constantine 
divided them into tliree classes, of the two 
first the senate was composed : those of the 
third had no place in the senate, but enjoy- 
ed several other privileges of senators; 
There were counts that served on land, 
■others at sea; some in a civil, and some in 
a legal capacity. 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 
sovereignty to himself. A count has a 
riglrt to bear on his arms a coromd adorned 
with three precious stones, and surmounted 
with three large pearls, wliereof these in 
the middle and extremities of the coronet 
advance above the rest. See Crown. 
Count, in law, signifies the orisinal de- 
VOL. IL 
COU 
claration 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 harry, or Contre harre, in 
heraldry, is tire same as our bendy sinister 
per bend counterchanged. ' 
Counter bond, a bond of indemnifica- 
tion, given to one who has given his bond 
as a security for another’s payment of a 
debt, or the faithful discliai'ge of bis office 
or trust. 
Counter changed, ia heraldry, is when 
any field or charge is divided or parted by 
any line or lines of partition, consisting ail 
interchangeably of tlie same tinctures. 
Counter deed, a secret writing either 
before a notary or under a private seal, 
which destroys, invalidates, or alters a pub- 
lic one. 
Counter ermine, in heraldry, is the con- 
trary to ermine, being a black field with 
white spots. 
COUNTERFEITS, in our law, are per- 
sons that obtain any money or goods bj' 
counterfeit letters or false tokens, who be- 
mg convicted before justices of assize, or of 
the peace, &c. are to suffer such pnnish- 
ment as shall be thonglit fit to be inflicted, 
under death, as imprisonment, pillory, Sec. 
Counter march, in military affairs, a 
change of the face or wings of a battalion, 
by which means tliose 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 
tliey must not be opened but in the pre- 
sence of them all or their agents. 
In goldsmiths’ work, tlie counter-mark 
is the mai-k punched upon tlie work at the 
liall, to shew that the metal is standard. 
With liorse-jockies, the connter-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 bein®' 
struck. It is sometimes an Emperor’s head, 
sometimes a cornucopia, &c. Counter- 
marks are distingmshed from the mono- 
grams in this, that being struck after the 
medal, they are indented; whereas the mo- 
nograms being stnick at the same time witti 
tlie medals, have a little relievo. 
Counter paled, in heraldry, is when the 
D d 
