prize court

American  

noun

1. a court whose function it is to adjudicate on prizes taken in war.

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prize court British  

noun

1. law a court having jurisdiction to determine how property captured at sea in wartime is to be distributed

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Etymology

Origin of prize court

An Americanism dating back to 1785–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

prize court

Before the captor could take title to a vessel, he would have to bring the ship into port and have it condemned before a prize court, which would determine the lawfulness of the capture.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

She does not take her captures within the jurisdiction of a prize court.

From New York Times Current History: The European War, Vol 2, No. 1, April, 1915 April-September, 1915 by Various

In this country, prizes are proved and condemned in a district court of the United States, which, when sitting that purpose, is called a prize court.

From The Government Class Book Designed for the Instruction of Youth in the Principles of Constitutional Government and the Rights and Duties of Citizens. by Young, Andrew W.

"I shall tell the governor that I have ordered them to be taken to Kingston, where there is a regular prize court, and therefore it will not be necessary to trouble with their manifests here."

From A Roving Commission Or, Through the Black Insurrection at Hayti by Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)

His suggestion was at once acted on; a French cruiser went out into the Channel, seized the offending ship, took it into port, where a French prize court promptly condemned it.

From The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, Volume I by Hendrick, Burton Jesse