oyer and terminer

American  

[tur-muh-ner] / ˈtɜr mə nər /

noun

Law.

1. (in some U.S. states) any of various higher criminal courts.

2. British.

   1. a commission or writ directing the holding of a court to try offenses.

   2. the court itself.

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oyer and terminer British  

/ ˈtɜːmɪnə /

noun

1. English law (formerly) a commission issued to judges to try cases on assize. It became obsolete with the abolition of assizes and the setting up of crown courts in 1972

2. the court in which such a hearing was held

3. (in the US) a court exercising higher criminal jurisdiction

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Etymology

Origin of oyer and terminer

1375–1425; late Middle English < Anglo-French: literally, to hear and determine

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

oyer and terminer

The second charter, after confirming former liberties, enlarges the limits of the civic jurisdiction and ordains that the mayor, recorder, and two aldermen, shall be justices of oyer and terminer.

From The Corporation of London, Its Rights and Privileges by Allen, William Ferneley

They were to constitute a court of oyer and terminer.

From The Journal of Negro History, Volume 3, 1918 by Various

Demurely dressed in grey, the little white-haired lady calmly faced the Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys and the four judges of oyer and terminer who sat with him, and confidently made her plea of "Not Guilty."

From The Historical Nights' Entertainment First Series by Sabatini, Rafael

One of twelve men, called a petit jury, whose duty it is to try causes, civil or criminal, in the county court and sessions, or circuit and oyer and terminer.

From Civil Government for Common Schools by Northam, Henry C.

But the preacher only announced that before handing the case to the civil court of oyer and terminer for judgment, the elders wished to hold it in meditation for another day.

From Heralds of Empire Being the Story of One Ramsay Stanhope, Lieutenant to Pierre Radisson in the Northern Fur Trade by Laut, Agnes C. (Agnes Christina)