284 C O U 
counfellors {hall not be punifhed for {hewing a f.dfe deed 
in .evidence. No recufant convidt, or non-conformift, 
(hall pradtife the law, as a counfellor, or otherwife, under 
penalties. 13 and 14 Will. III. c. 6. See. See the article 
Barrister, vol. ii. p. 756. 
COUN'SELLGRSHTP,y; The office or port of privy 
counfellor.—Of the great offices and officers of the king¬ 
dom, the mod part are fitch as cannot well be fevered 
from the counfellorjhip. Bacon. 
To COUNT, v. a. [ compter , Fr. computare, Lat.] To 
number; to tell.—The vicious count their years; virtu¬ 
ous, their adts. John/bn. 
When men in ficknefs ling’ring lie, 
They count the tedious hours by months and years. Dryd. 
To preferve a reckoning. — Some people in America 
counted their years by the coming of certain birds among 
them at their certain feafons, and leaving them at others. 
Locke. —To reckon ; to place to an account.—He believ¬ 
ed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteouf- 
nefs. Genefis, xv. 6.—To efteem ; to account; to reckon ; 
to confider as having a certain character, whether good 
or evil.— Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Be¬ 
lial. 1 Sam. i. 
Nor fhall I count it heinous to enjoy 
The public marks of honour and reward 
Conferr’d upon me. Milton. 
To impute to ; to charge to : 
All th’ impoffibilities, which poets 
Count to extravagance of loole defeription. 
Shall fooner be. Rowe. 
To COUNT, v. n. To found an account or fcheme : 
with upon .—I think it a great error to count upon the 
genius of a nation, as a {landing argument in all ages. 
'Swift.. 
COUNT, f. [ compte , Fr. computus, I.at.] Number: 
That we up to your palaces may mount, 
Of blelfed faints for to increafe the count. Spaifcr. 
Reckoning ; number fiimmed : 
By my count, 
I was your mother much uponthefe years. S/iakefpcarc, 
, Efteem : ✓ 
That in hard a (Flies 
Were cowards knownc, and little count did hold. Spciifcr. 
COUNT, f. in law, is the original declaration or 
ground of complaint in real action. As declaration is 
applied to perfonal, fo count is applicable to real caules: 
but count and declaration are oftentimes confounded, and 
made to fignify the fame thing, In paffing a recovery at 
the coihmon pleas bar, a ferjeant at law counts upon the 
praecipe, See. See Declarations and Pleading. 
COUNT, or CguNTEE,/. [ comte, Fr. comes, Lat.] This 
was the mod eminent dignity of a fubjedt before the con- 
queft, and in title fimilar to an earl; therefore thole who 
in ancient times were created countees, were men of great 
eftate; for which reafon, and becatife the law intends 
that they affift the king with their counfel for the public 
good, and preferve the realm by their valour, they had 
great privileges; as they might not be arrefted for debt 
or trefpafs, or be put on juries, &c. The countee was 
prasfedtus, or preepojitus eSmitatfis, and had the charge and 
cuftody of either a town, city, or county, as the {heriff 
now hath. 9 Rep. 46. Anciently all generals, counfel¬ 
lors, judges, and fecretaries of cities under Charlemagne, 
were called counts ■ the diftinguifhing charadter of a duke 
and count being this, that the latter had but one town 
under him, but the former feveral. Counts were then 
lords of the court, or of the emperor’s retinue, and had 
their name comilescomitando, cr a commeando: hence thofe 
who were always in the palace, or at the emperor’s fide, 
were called counts palatine, or comites a latere. In the times 
of the Roman commonwealth, comites was a general 
c o u 
name for all thofe who accompanied the pl'oconfuls and 
propraetors into the provinces, there to ferve the com¬ 
monwealth, as the tribunes, prefects, feribes, &c. Under 
the emperors, comites were the officers, of the palace. 
The origin of what we now call counts feems owing to 
Auguftus, who took feveral fenators to be his comites, 
as Dion obferves, i. e. to accompany him in his voyages 
and travels, and to affift him in the hearing of caules, 
which were thus judged with the fame authority as in 
full fenate. Gallienus feems to have aboliflied this coun¬ 
cil, by forbidding the fenators bein{>- feen in the armies ; 
and none of his fuccelTors re-eftabliffied it. Thefe coun¬ 
fellors of the emperor were really counts, comites, com¬ 
panions of the prince ; and they took the title always 
with the addition of the emperor’s name whom they ac¬ 
companied ; fo that it was rather a mark of their office 
than a title of dignity. Conftantine was the firft who 
converted it into a dignity; and under him it was that 
the name was tirfl given absolutely. The name once eft:s- 
bliflied, was in a little time indifferently conferred, not 
only on thofe who followed the court, and accompanied 
the emperor, but alfo on moft'ldnds of officers, a long 
lift whereof is given by Du Cange. 
Eufebius relates, that Conftantine divided the counts 
into three claffes : the firft bore the title of illujlrcs ; the 
fecond that of clarijjimi, and afterwards fptElabilcs the 
third were called perfeEliJJimi. Of the two firft claftes was 
the fenate compoled ; thofe of the third had no place in 
the fenate, but enjoyed feveral of their privileges. Some 
of thefe counts ferved on land, others at fea ; fome in a 
civil, fome in a religious, and foine in a legal, capacity. 
The Francs, Germans, See. paffing into Gaul and Ger¬ 
many, did not abolifti the form of the Roman govern¬ 
ment ; but as the governors of cities and provinces were 
called counts, comites, and dukes, duces, they continued to 
be fo. They commanded in time of war ; and in time of 
peace they adminiftered juftice. Thus, in the time of 
Charlefnagne, counts were the ordinary judges and go¬ 
vernors of cities. Thefe counts of cities were inferior to 
the dukes and counts who prefided over provinces ; the 
firft being conftituted in the particular cities under the 
jurifdidtion of the latter. The counts of provinces were 
not inferior to dukes, who themfelves were only gover¬ 
nors of provinces. Under the laft of the fecond race of 
French kings, they got their dignity rendered hereditary, 
and even ufurped the fovereignty when Hugh Capet 
came to the crown : his authority w r as not fufficient to 
oppofe their encroachments ; and from hence they date 
the privilege of wearing coronets in their arms ; they 
aifumed it then as enjoying the rights of fovereigns in 
their particular diftridts or counties. 
William, called the Conqueror, as is obferved by 
Camden, gave the dignity of counts in fee to his nobles j 
annexing it to this or that county or province, and allot¬ 
ting for their maintenance a certain proportion of money, 
ariling from the prince’s profits in the pleadings and for¬ 
feitures of the provinces. The Germans call a co :nt, 
graaf or grajf, which properly iignifies judge, and is de¬ 
rived from gravio or gro.ffio, of yfoitpce, I write. They 
have alio feveral kinds of counts or grafts, as landgraves, 
marchgrayes, burg-graves, and palfgraves, or counts pa¬ 
latine. Thefe are of two kinds; the former are of the 
number of princes, and have the inveftiture of a pala¬ 
tinate ; the others have only the title of count palatine, 
without the inveftiture of any palatinate. Some aifert, 
that by publicly profeffing the imperial laws for twenty 
years, the pleader acquires the dignity of a count pala¬ 
tine ; and there are inftances of profelfors of law who 
have affumed the title accordingly. 
COUNT-WHEEL, f. A wheel in the linking part of 
a clock, moving round once in twelve or twenty-four 
hours. It is fometimes colled the locking-wheel, becaufe 
it has ufually eleven notches in it at unequal diftances 
from one another, to make the clock ftrike. 
COUNT'ABLE, adj. That which may be numbered. 
=The 
