magistrate's court
noun
a court having limited jurisdiction over minor civil and criminal matters, as matters of contract not exceeding a particular amount of money.
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magistrate's court
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magistrates' court
magistrates' courtnoun(in England) a court of summary jurisdiction held before two or more justices of the peace or a stipendiary magistrate to deal with minor crimes, certain civil actions, and preliminary hearings
magistrate's court
Americannoun
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a court having limited jurisdiction over minor civil and criminal matters, as matters of contract not exceeding a particular amount of money.
magistrates' court
British
noun
Etymology
Origin of magistrate's court
First recorded in 1865–70
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The accused appeared in a magistrate's court in the capital city Pretoria on Tuesday and were granted bail.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2025
Pictures from the magistrate's court in eastern Uganda show him dressed in a white tunic, or kanzu, and walking with the aid of a crutch under his right arm.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2023
The defense had earlier disputed whether the magistrate's court had extraterritorial jurisdiction over the posts she published aboard, but they abandoned the dispute as she didn't remove the content.
From Reuters ● Nov. 3, 2023
The move by a magistrate’s court follows similar actions in early August against Apple and the Wikimedia Foundation that hosts Wikipedia.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 17, 2023
The first stage took place in a magistrate’s court.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Fines of up to £5,000 are given for large-scale, repeat or commercial fly-tipping incidents which also involve a trip to the magistrates' court.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
Omar Majed, from Birmingham, gave no indication of plea to a charge of communicating false information to police and was remanded in custody at the city's magistrates' court.
From BBC ● May 4, 2026
At the magistrates' court hearing, the boy spoke to confirm his name, age and address and enter his 16 not guilty pleas to the following charges:
From BBC ● May 2, 2026
A prosecution lawyer had outlined some detail about the allegations against Mr Spencer at an earlier magistrates' court hearing.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2025
There was a large town hall with a magistrates' court, where the bench sat every month once.
From A Book of Ghosts by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
