common pleas

plural nounLaw.

civil actions or proceedings between private citizens.
Also Common Pleas . court of common pleas.

Origin of common pleas

Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225

Words Nearby common pleas

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use common pleas in a sentence

Daniel Wells, chief justice of the court of common pleas of Massachusetts, died at Cambridge, aged 63.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology | Joel Munsell
On revising the statutes good behavior was made the term of tenure for the judges and clerks of common pleas.
A short history of Rhode Island | George Washington Greene
A statute of Elizabeth required a list of fines to be exposed in the court of common pleas and at assizes.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 3 | Various
The court of common pleas in those days corresponded to the county court of our time.
A History of the City of Brooklyn and Kings County Volume II | Stephen M. Ostrander
Five school examiners are appointed in each county, by the Court of common pleas, who are to examine teachers.
A New Guide for Emigrants to the West | J. M. Peck

British Dictionary definitions for common pleas

common pleas

noun

short for Court of Common Pleas

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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