cou 
is, forcibly tom off, and therefore is ragged 
and uneven. 
CoupED is also used to signify such 
crosses, bai-s, bends, chevrons, &c. as do 
not touch the sides of the escutcheon, but 
are, as it were, cut off from them. 
COUPLE doss, in heraldry, the fourth 
part of a chevron, never borne but in pairs, 
except there be a chevron between tliem, 
saith Guillim, though Bloom gives an in- 
stance to the contrary. 
COURSE, in navigation, that point of 
the compass or horizon on which the ship 
steers ; or the angle between the rhumb- 
line and the meridian. See Navigation. 
Course, in architecture, a continued 
range of stones, level, or of the same height 
throughout the whole length of a building, 
without being ititerrupted by any aperture. 
Courses, in a ship, the mainsail and fore- 
sail : 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 
mider 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 pur- 
lieu. 
The best method of coursing tlie 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 sports- 
men are always pleased with this, ajs it pro- 
mises 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 
groimd. When a hare is put up, it is al- 
w'ays proper to give her giound, or law, as 
it is called ; that is, to let her run twelve- 
score yards, or thereabouts, before the 
COU 
greyhounds are slipped at her; otherwise 
she is killed too soon, the greater part of 
the sport is thrown away, and the pleasure 
of observing the several turnings and wind- 
ings that the creature will make to get 
away, is all lost. A good sportsman had 
rather see a hare save herself after a fair 
course, than see her murdered by the grey- 
hounds as soon as she is up. 
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 overtake him, after all the odds 
of distance necessary ; and the only danger 
is tlie spoiling the dog by the fox, which 
too frequently happens. For this reason, 
no greyhound of any value should be run at 
this course ; but the strong, hard, bitter 
dogs that will seize any thing. 
COURT, in a law sense, the place where 
judges distribute justice, or exercise juris- 
diction ; also the assembly of judges, jury, 
iSfc. 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 Ex- 
chequer, and tlie 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, personal, and mixed 
actions ; where the debt or damage is forty 
shillings, or above, as the court of King’s 
Bench, &c. 
A base court, or a court not of record, is 
where it cannot hold plea of debt, or da- 
mage, amounting to forty shillings, or where 
the proceedings are not according to the 
course of the common law, nor inrolled ; 
such as the county-court, courts of hun- 
dreds, court-baron, &c. 
The rolls of the superior courts of record 
are of such authority, as not to admit of any 
proof against them, they being 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 im- 
prison a person, such as the leet ; and some 
can neither fine nor inflict punishment, and 
can only amerce, as tlie county-court, court- 
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