Lawcourt

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A tribunal within the legal system where disputes and criminal charges are heard and decided by a judge or jury
2. The formal venue in which judges hear evidence and reach rulings on civil and criminal cases brought before them
3. A room or building set aside for administering justice, where legal proceedings are conducted and verdicts are delivered

Etymology: "Lawcourt" is simply a closed-up spelling of "law court," so its history is the history of the two words joined together. "Law" comes from Old English "lagu," a word borrowed into the language from Old Norse "lag," meaning something laid down or fixed, which is why it shares roots with "lay." "Court" arrived in English from Old French "cort," descended from Latin "cohors," which originally meant an enclosed yard or farmstead before it came to name the household of a ruler and then the place where justice was dispensed. Put together, "law court" describes a place where the laid-down rules of a community are applied. The spelling "lawcourt" as a single word is far less common than the two-word form and mostly appears where writers compound the terms, as in headlines or informal writing.

Synonyms: courtroom, tribunal