c o u 
mien'; comp-laifance; civility.—The flighted part that 
you excel in, is courtlinefs. Lord Digby. 
COURT'LING,yi A courtier ; a retainer to a court: 
Ccurt'ling, I rather thou fliould’ft utterly 
Difpraife my work, than praife it froftily. Ben Jonfon. 
COURT'LY, adj. Relating or retaining to the court; 
elegant; foft; flattering : 
In our own time (ex cufe Tome courtly drains) 
No whiter page than Addifon’s remains. Pope. 
COURT'LY, adv. In the manner of courts; elegantly. 
•—They can produce nothing fo' courtly writ, or which 
exprell'es fo much the conversation of a gentleman, as fir 
John Suckling. Dry den. 
COURTOMER', a town of France, in the department 
of the Orne : 'five miles end of Seez. 
COURTON'NE LA VILLE, a town of France, in the 
department of the Calvados, and chief place of a canton, 
in the diftridt of Lifieux : two leagues and a quarter 
fouth-ead of Lifieux. 
COURTRAY', or Courtrai, called by the Flemings 
Cortryck, a town of Flanders of the fourth rank, with 
a chateleny, fituated on the river Lis, and celebrated tor 
its manufacture of table-linen. Philip the Bold, duke 
of Burgundy and comte of Flanders, built a cadle here 
in 1385, and fortified the city with many towers. In 
1302, the famous battle of Spurs was fought near Cour- 
tray, between the French and Flemings, in which the for¬ 
mer were defeated with the lofs of twenty thoufand men. 
In 13S2, Charles VI. attacked the Flemings, who had 
revolted againd their coipte Louis, and having defeated 
them at Rofebecque, he Sacked and burned Courtray. It 
was often taken and retaken by the French and Spaniards. 
The French became rnaders in 1643, and the marfhal de 
la Ferte Sennetere obliged the Spaniards, who had be¬ 
gun a fiege, to retire. In 1645, the king of Spain took 
it, and added to its fortifications. In 1646, the duke of 
Orleans, uncle to Louis XIV. took it, in fight of the army 
of Spain, commanded by the duke of Lorrain, who could 
give it no fuccour; the following year the archduke Leo¬ 
pold took it from the French by affault. In 16S7, it v/as 
again taken and fortified by the order of Louis XIV. and 
ceded to France by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 
1668. In 1678, it was by the peace of Nimeguen re- 
Itored to Spain. In 1683, the French again became maf- 
ters of the town and citadel, which they difrnantled in 
1684, and reftored it to Spain in 1697. The French re¬ 
publican army took it the iSth of June, 1792, under the 
command of general Euckncr, but retired from it foon 
after ; but in the month of April, 1794, the French took 
it again : twenty-two miles louth-weft of Ghtent, and 
' twenty-four louth of Bruges. Lat. 50. 49. N. Ion. 20. 
51. E. Ferro. 
COURTS of LAY/, places peculiarly appointed, un¬ 
der the cognizance and authority of proper officers, for 
the due adminiftration of public juftice. The'fuperior 
courts are thofe at Weflminfter; and of courts, fome are 
of record, and fome not, which are accounted bafe courts 
in refpeCt of the others. A court of record is that court 
which hath power to hold plea, according to the courfe 
of the- common law, of real, perfonal, and mixed, actions, 
where the debt or damage is forty Ihiliings or above; as 
the king’s-bench, common-pleas, &c. A court, not of 
record, is where it cannot hold plea of debt or damages 
amounting to forty Ihiliings, but of pleas under that 
lum ; or where the proceedings are not according to the 
courfe of the common law, norinrolled; as the county- 
court, the court-baron, &c. 1 Injl. 117. 2 Rol. Abr. 574. 
Every court of record is the king’s court, in right of his 
crown and dignity, though his fubjedts have the benefit 
of it; and therefore no other court hath authority to fine 
and imprifon : fo that the very erection of a new jurif- 
didtion, with power of fine or imprifonment, makes it 
inftantly a court of record. Balk. 200. The free ufe of 
Vol, V. No. 273. 
C O U 297 
all courts of record and not of record, is to be granted 
to the people: the leet and tourn are the king’s courts, 
and of record. 2 Dane/. 259. The rolls of the fuperior 
courts of record are of fueh authority, that no. proof will 
be admitted againlt them ; and thefe records are only 
triable by themfelves. 3 Infi. 71. But as the county- 
court, court-baron, See. are not courts of record, the 
proceedings therein may be denied, and tried by a jury ; 
and upon their judgments a writ of error lies not, but 
writ of falle judgment. 1 Injl. 1 17. 
In the courts at Weflminlter, the plaintiff need not 
fhow at large in his declaration, that the caufc of aCtion 
arifes within their jurifdiCtion, it being general; inferior 
courts are to fhow it at large, becaufe they have parti¬ 
cular jurifdidtions. 1 Lil. Abr. 371. Alfo nothing ffiall 
be intended to be within the jurifdiction of an inferior 
court, but what is exprefsly (o alleged ; and if part of 
the caufe arifes within the inferior jurifdi&ion, and part 
thereof without it, the inferior court ought not to hold 
plea. 1 Lev. 104. An inferior court, not of record, can¬ 
not impjOfe a fine, or imprifon ; but the courts of record 
at Weflminfter may fine, imprifon, and amerce. 11 Rep. 
43. The king being the fupreme magiftrate of the king¬ 
dom, and intrufted with the executive power of the law, 
all courts, fuperior or inferior, ought to derive their au¬ 
thority from the crown. Staundf. 54. The king himfelf 
cannot now, as anciently, fit in judgment in any court 
upon civil caufes, nor upon indictments, bccaufe there 
he is one of the parties to the fuit. 2 Hawk. P. C. c. 1. 
The king hath committed all his power judicial to one 
court or the other. 4 Injl. 71. And by 52 Men. III. c. 1. 
it is enacted, that all perfons fliall receive juftice in the 
king’s courts, and none take any diltrefs of his own au¬ 
thority, without aivard of the king’s courts. p. 
It is faid the cuftoms, precedents, and common judi¬ 
cial proceedings^ of a court, are a law to that court; and 
the determinations of courts, make points to be law. All 
things determinable in courts, that are courts by the 
common law, fliall be determined by the judges of the 
fame courts; and the king’s writ cannot alter the jurif¬ 
diction of a court. 6 Rep. 11. The court of king’s-bench 
regulates all the inferior courts of law in the kingdom, to 
fee that they do not exceed their jurifdiclions, nor alter 
their forms. And as the court of king’s-bench hath a 
general fuperintendency over all inferior courts, it may 
award an attachment againft any fuch court, ufurping a 
jurifdidtion not belonging to it; but it is fometimes ufual 
firfl to award ajvrit of prohibition, and afterwards an at¬ 
tachment, upon its continuing to proceed. 2 Hawk. P. C. 
c. 22. If a court, having no jurifdiCtion of a caufe de¬ 
pending .therein, do neverthelefs proceed, the judgment 
in fuch court is coram non judice, and void ; and an aCtion 
lies againft the judges who give the judgment, and any 
officer that executes the procefs under them; though 
where they have authority, and give an ill judgment, 
there the party who executes the procefs, &c. upon the 
judgment, fliall be excufed. 1 Lil. Abr. 370. 
Judges of inferior courts may be punifhed for mifbeha- 
viour either by information or attachment. Moravia’s 
cafe. Harden. 135. Any defeats in the proceedings of an 
inferior court cannot be amended, by the return which 
is not part of the record. The Kingw. Holmes, Id. 365. 
Where an inferior court returns its proceedings, no dimi¬ 
nution can be alleged. Sayer v. Curtis, 367. Action on 
the cafe lies againft the plaintiff for fuing one in an infe¬ 
rior court, where the caufe of aCtion is out of its jurif- 
didtion. And if a plaintiff on a contradt for a large firm, 
fplits it into feveral adtions for fmall films to give an 
inferior court jurifdidtion, a prohibition ffiall go. Mod. 
Caf. 90. Striking, in the courts at Weftminfter, is punifh- 
able by cutting off the right hand, forfeiture of goods, &c. 
The fuperior court of law exercifed in this realm, is 
the High CoPrt of Parliament : next to that, in 
the order of precedence, Hand the courts of Chancery, 
King’s-Bench, Common-Pleas, Exchequer, arid 
1 4 G Admiralty:, 
