common pleas

American  

plural noun

Law.

1. civil actions or proceedings between private citizens.

2. Also Common Pleas court of common pleas.

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common pleas British  

noun

1. short for Court of Common Pleas

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Etymology

Origin of common pleas

Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225

Example Sentences

Two really common pleas are solicitation and misprision.

From Slate • Jun. 10, 2020

He served as an assistant Ohio attorney general and a municipal judge, and he was elected Hamilton County common pleas judge in 1964 — as a Republican overcoming the Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic presidential landslide.

From Washington Post • May 21, 2020

The court of common pleas hears more serious cases than municipal courts, including the bulk of felony and major civil litigation in the county.

From New York Times • Aug. 21, 2017

The case will unfold with Judge Steven O’Neill presiding in the Montgomery County court of common pleas, not far from the Elkins Park mansion where Cosby still lives.

From The Guardian • Jun. 5, 2017

In Pennsylvania and Delaware the clerk of the common pleas court is known as a "prothonotary"; in Massachusetts the clerks of the probate courts are styled "registers of probate."

From Government in the United States National, State and Local by Garner, James Wilford