prize court

noun

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

Nearby words

privy purse, privy seal, prix fixe, prix goncourt, prize, prize court, prize flag, prize money, prize ring, prizefight, prizer

Origin of prize court

An Americanism dating back to 1785–95

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for prize court

A few were released, but the larger part were condemned by a prize-court and sold.
Young Peoples' History of the War with Spain|Prescott Holmes
If the Trent had been taken into port, a prize-court must have liberated the prisoners.
Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States|Raphael Semmes
The prize-court will decide what is to be done with your cargo.
Banzai!|Ferdinand Heinrich Grautoff
Let us hope that the prize-court and its attendant officials did not absorb too big a share of the proceeds!
The Bay State Monthly - Volume 1, Issue 4 - April, 1884|Various

If such a ship opposes the prize-court then it must be treated as an enemy ship.
Our Navy in the War|Lawrence Perry

British Dictionary definitions for prize court

prize court

noun

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012