Lawcourts

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The buildings in which legal cases are heard and judged by courts of law
2. Premises housing the courts where disputes and criminal charges are decided before judges
3. Structures set aside for the hearing of trials and other legal proceedings

Etymology: "Lawcourts" is simply the plural of "lawcourt," a compound of "law" and "court." "Law" comes from Old English "lagu," a word for an established rule or decree, while "court" descends from Latin "cohors," meaning an enclosed yard or courtyard, which later came to denote the household of a ruler and then a ruler's judicial assembly. The notion of a court as a place where justice is administered grew out of that older sense of an enclosed space where a lord's household gathered. The plural form matters here because a single building or institution often houses several bodies that sit at once. Speaking of "lawcourts" rather than "lawcourt" therefore refers to the whole complex of tribunals under one roof, not to one judge's chamber alone.

Synonyms: courts, tribunals