Eng. law. A court which formerly had great jurisdiction and power, but which was abolished by stat. 16, C. I., c. 10, on account of its usurpations and great unpopularity. It consisted of several of the lords spiritual and temporal, being privy counselors, together with two judges of the courts of common law, without the intervention of a jury. Their legal jurisdiction extended over riots, perjuries, misbehavior of public officers, and other great misdemeanors. The judges afterwards assumed powers, and stretched those they possessed to the utmost bounds of legality.
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