Legal Definition and Related Resources of Court of common pleas

In American Law. A court of original and general jurisdiction for the trial of issues of fact and law according to the principles of the common law. Courts of this name still exist in some of the states of the United States, and frequently have a criminal as well as civil jurisdiction. They are, in general, courts of record, being expressly made so by statute in Pennsylvania. 3 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 246. In Pennsylvania they exercise an equity jurisdiction, also, as well as that at common law. Courts of substantially similar powers to those indicated in the definition exist in all the states, under various names; and for peculiarities in their constitution reference is made to the articles on the states in regard to which the question may arise. In English Law. One of the three superior C6urts of common law at Westminster. This court, which is sometimes called, also, bancus communis, bancus, and common bench, is a branch of the aula regis, and was at its institution ambulatory, following the household of the king. In the eleventh clause of Magna Charta, A. D. 1214, it is provided that it shall be held at some fixed place, which is Westminster. The establishment of this court at Westminster, and the consequent construction of the Inns of Court, and gathering together of the common-law lawyers, enabled the law itself to withstand the attacks of the canonists and civilians. It derived its name from the fact that the causes of common people were heard there. It had exclusive jurisdiction of real actions as long as those actions were in use, and had also an extensive, and, for a long time, exclusive, jurisdiction of all actions between subjects. This latter jurisdiction, however, was gradually encroached upon by the king’s bench and exchequer, with which it now has a concurrent jurisdiction in many matters. Formerly none but Serjeants at law were admitted to practice before this court in banc (6 Bing. [N. C] 235), but by St. 6 & 7 Vict. c. 18, § 61, and St. 9 & 10 Vict. c. 54, all barristers at law have the right of “practice, pleading and audience.” It consists of one chief and four puisne or associate justices. It has a civil, common-law jurisdiction, concurrent with the king’s bench and exchequer, of personal actions and actions of ejectment, and a peculiar or exclusive jurisdiction of real actions, actions under the railway and canal traffic act (17 & 18 Vict, c. 31), the registration of judgments, annuities, etc. (1 & 2 Vict. c. 110; 2 & 3 Vict, c. 11; 3 & 4 Vict. c. 82; 18 Vict. c. 15); respecting fees for conveyances under 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 74; the examination of married women concerning their conveyances (11 & 12 Vict. c. 70; 17 & 18 Vict. c. 76; 19 & 20 Vict. c. 108, § 73) ; and of appeals from the revising barristers’ court (6 & 7 Vict. c. 18). Wharton. Appeals formerly lay from this court to the king’s bench; but, by the statutes of 11 Geo. IV. and 1 Wm. IV. c. 70, appeals for errors in law are now taken to the judges of the king’s bench and barons of exchequer in the exchequer chambers, from whose judgment an appeal lies only to the house of lords. 3 Sharswood, Bl. Comm, 40.

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This definition of Court Of Common Pleas is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

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English Legal System: Court of Common Pleas

In the context of the English law, A Dictionary of Law provides the following legal concept of Court of Common Pleas : One of the three courts of *common law into which the curia regis was divided (the others being the *Court of Queen’s Bench and the *Court of Exchequer) whose jurisdiction was merged into that of the High Court by the Judicature Acts 1873-75. It became the Common Pleas Division, which in 1880 was merged into the *Queen’s Bench Division.