nisi prius
Americannoun
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Also called nisi prius court. a trial court for the hearing of civil cases before a judge and jury.
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British Law.
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a writ commanding a sheriff of a county to summon a jury and bring it to the court in Westminster on a certain day, unless the judges of assizes previously came to that county.
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the clause with the words “nisi prius” introducing this writ.
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the system of judicial circuits to which judges are assigned for local trials of civil and criminal cases.
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noun
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English legal history
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a direction that a case be brought up to Westminster for trial before a single judge and a jury
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the writ giving this direction
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trial before the justices taking the assizes
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(in the US) a court where civil actions are tried by a single judge sitting with a jury, as distinguished from an appellate court
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of nisi prius
1300–50; Middle English < Latin: literally, unless previously, unless before
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.
In Massachusetts it survived for their highest nisi prius court until 1804.
From The American Judiciary by Baldwin, Simeon E., LLD
It was a delight to practise before him at nisi prius.
From Autobiography of Seventy Years, Vol. 1-2 by Hoar, George Frisbie
While thus the whole conversation ran on topics of the circuit, I was amazed at Mrs. Rooney's perfect intimacy with all the niceties of a law joke, or the fun of a nisi prius story.
From Jack Hinton The Guardsman by Lever, Charles James
This idea of dramatising proceedings at nisi prius only shows the state of destitution into which the promoters of stage excitement have fallen.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, November 27, 1841 by Various
In fact, as a nisi prius leader he was unrivalled, as well in stating as in arguing a case, as well in examining as cross-examining a witness.
From Ten Thousand a-Year. Volume 1. by Warren, Samuel
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.
