COURTS AND THEIR JURISDICTION. CHAPTER I. COURTS. 1. Defined. 2. General division of. 3. Common law and equity courts-in England. 4. Common law and equity courts-in the United States. 5. Military and maritime courts. 6. Courts of record and courts not of record. 7. Courts of general and superior, and of inferior and special jurisdiction. 1. Defined. A court is defined to be "A place wherein justice is judicially administered." And as "a body in the government, organized for the public administration of justice at the time and place prescribed by law." 2 And as "The presence of a sufficient number of the members of a body in the government, to which the public administration of justice is delegated, regularly convened in an authorized place at an appointed time, engaged in the full and regular performance of its functions." 2 The judges of a court do not, necessarily, constitute the court. The judges, as such, have certain powers pertaining to their office which may be exercised at chambers. When so acting they are not a court. To constitute a court, the judge or judges must be in the discharge of judicial duties at the time and in the place prescribed by law for the sitting of the court.3 13 Blackstone's Coin. 23. 24 Am. and Eng. Enc. of Law, 447. Post, sec. 19. Hobart v. Hobart, 45 Iowa, 501, 503. The question in this case was whether the taking of evidence before a referee was a trial in "open court." In passing upon this question, the court said: "Blackstone, adopting Coke's definition, says: 'A court is a place where One of the important attributes of a court, the proceedings of which must be recorded, is that of preserving such proceedings in some permanent form. This is a function that must be performed by the clerk or prothonotary of the court. Therefore the presence of such clerk or prothonotary is necessary to constitute a court of record. "A court is an incorporeal political being, which requires, for its existence, the presence of the judges, or a competent number of them, and a clerk or prothonotary, at the time during which, and at the place where it is by law authorized to be held; and the performance of some public act, indicative of a design to perform the functions of a court."1 "A tribunal established for the public administration of justice, and composed of one or more judges, who sit for that purpose at fixed times and places, attended by proper officers." 2 A court of common law is defined to be " a court which administers justice acccording to the principles and forms of the common law," and a court of chancery as one "which proceeds wholly according to the principles of equity." 2 2. GENERAL DIVISION OF COURTS.-Courts may, for convenience of arrangement, and the consideration necessary to give them here, be divided into: 1. Common law and equity courts. 2. Military and maritime courts. 3. Courts of record and courts not of record. 4. Courts of superior and general jurisdiction, and courts of inferior and special jurisdiction. justice is judicially administered.' But this definition obviously wants fullness; it is limited to the place of a court in its expression. In addition to the place, there must be the presence of the officers constituting the court, the judge or judges certainly, and probably the clerk authorized to record the action of the court; time must be regar led, too, for the officers of a court must be present at the place and at the time appointed bylawin order to constitute a court. To give existence to a court, then, its officers, and the time and place of holding it, must be such as are prescribed by law." 1 Bouvier's Law Dic., title Court. 2 Anderson's Dic. of Law, 274. 3. COMMON LAW AND EQUITY COURTS, IN ENGLAND.-The distinction between law and equity courts is not as important now as it was before the enactment of the codes in many of the states, and of the judicature acts in England. The principal common law and equity courts of England, as mentioned in Blackstone's Commentaries, were the court of common pleas, the court of king's bench, the court of exchequer, the high court of chancery, the court of exchequer chamber, and the house of peers.' Of these, all were common law courts, so far as their original jurisdiction was concerned, except the court of exchequer, which was both a court of law and a court of equity, and the high court of chancery, which exercised certain functions of a legal character, although its most important jurisdiction was that of a court of equity. By what are known as the judicature acts of England, all of these courts, except the exchequer chamber and house of peers, were consolidated into one court, denominated the supreme court of judicature of England.2 The supreme court of judicature consists of two permanent divisions, viz., the high court of justice, and the court of appeal.3 The high court of justice was originally divided into five divisions, called, respectively, the chancery division, the queen's bench division, the common pleas division, the exchequer division, and the probate, divorce, and admiralty division.* And while the common law, equity, admiralty, eccle 13 Blk. Com. 36 et seq. "From and after the time appointed for the commencement of this act, the several courts hereinafter mentioned (that is to say), the high court of chancery of England, the court of queen's bench, the court of common pleas at Westminster, the court of exchequer, the high court of admiralty, the court of probate, the court for divorce and matrimonial causes, and the London court of bankruptcy, shall be united and consolidate together, and shall constitute, under and subject to the provisions of this act, one supreme court of judicature of England." Supreme Court of Judicature act of 1873, pt. 1, sec. 3; Foulke's Ac. in Sup. Ct. 2, 12. * Sup. Ct. Jud. Act, pt. 1, sec. 4; Foulke's Ac. in Sup. Ct. 14. • Ibid. |